This article is about large numbers in the sense of numbers that are significantly larger than those ordinarily used in everyday life, for instance in simple counting or in monetary transactions. The term typically refers to large positive integers, or more generally, large positive real numbers, but it may also be used in other contexts.
Very large numbers often occur in fields such as mathematics, cosmology, cryptography and statistical mechanics. Sometimes people refer to numbers as being "astronomically large". However, it is easy to mathematically define numbers that are much larger even than those used in astronomy.
Read more about Large Numbers: Using Scientific Notation To Handle Large and Small Numbers, Large Numbers in The Everyday World, Astronomically Large Numbers, Computers and Computational Complexity, Examples, Systematically Creating Ever Faster Increasing Sequences, Standardized System of Writing Very Large Numbers, Comparison of Base Values, Accuracy, Large Numbers in Some Noncomputable Sequences, Infinite Numbers, Notations
Famous quotes containing the words large and/or numbers:
“It is wonderful to think how men of very large estates not only spend their yearly income, but are often actually in want of money. It is clear, they have not value for what they spend.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“The principle of majority rule is the mildest form in which the force of numbers can be exercised. It is a pacific substitute for civil war in which the opposing armies are counted and the victory is awarded to the larger before any blood is shed. Except in the sacred tests of democracy and in the incantations of the orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend that the rule of the majority is not at bottom a rule of force.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)