Talks to Watch

How Big is Graham's Number? (feat Ron Graham)

1.7M views · Jul 22, 2014 · 8:23 · 4 HN recommenders · 6 mentions · discussed 2014–2024

Numberphile talks with mathematician Ron Graham about the magnitude of Graham's number, building up from arrow notation to show how impossibly large it is. It is part of a series of videos on this number.

Why Hacker News points people here: HN commenters recommend it for hearing Graham himself and for its clear introduction to up-arrow notation and enormous numbers.

“And here is the man himself describing it”HN comment, 2020

What Hacker News said 6

Strongly recommendsprezjordanDec 2014

“Big big numbers are really, really cool!”

Mind-blowing videos on arrow notation and Graham's number

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Is loglogloglog...log the only beast that can conquer Knuth's arrow notation? (x ↑↑↑↑...↑ n) Every time I watch videos about arrow notation or, more famously, Graham's number, my head explodes :) this video Big big numbers are really, really cool!

in “Prime Gap Grows After Decades-Long Lull” · view on HN
Strongly recommendsprezjordanFeb 2015

“My brain melts every time I watch this video”

Numberphile interview with Ron Graham himself

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My brain melts every time I watch this video [1] from Numberphile on Graham's number. They also had another video [2] with Ron Graham himself :) [1]: link [2]: this video

Strongly recommendsjiggawattsMay 2024

“If math can make you feel awe, you've got to watch the Numberphile series on very big numbers.”

Part of Numberphile series on enormous numbers that inspire awe

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If math can make you feel awe, you've got to watch the Numberphile series on very big numbers. They're constants used in proofs that are specific, well-defined integers known to be finite, but so huge that the physical universe does not have enough particles (or even Plank-scale microstates) in it to represent the number of digits these numbers have! Absolutely mind-bending stuff. Listed in increasing order: "Graham's Number" link "How Big is Graham's Number? (feat Ron Graham)" this video "The Enormous TREE(3)" link "TREE(3) (extra footage)" link "The Daddy of Big Numbers (Rayo's Number)" link

in “A Trial HIV Vaccine Triggered Elusive and Essential Antibodies in Humans” · view on HN
RecommendsdahartNov 2019

“This video explains it pretty well”

Explains up arrow notation well

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> why not have an operator that applies up arrows a number of times defined with up arrows? That is exactly what up arrows do, isn’t it? Up arrows are iterated up arrows. I learned this in college but still didn’t fully understand up arrows for a long time, they grow unimaginably bigger and faster than I first thought. This video explains it pretty well: this video I don’t know about ‘ultimate’ but there are some generalizations of up arrows: link link

in “Inventing an Operation to Solve x^x = y (2000)” · view on HN
RecommendsObiWanFrijolesJul 2022

“There's an awesome video with Ron Graham himself on Numberphile (YouTube)”

Numberphile video with Ron Graham himself

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Graham's number [0] can be defined using hyperoperations. There's an awesome video with Ron Graham himself on Numberphile (YouTube) [1] [0] link [1] this video

in “The Fourth Operation: What Comes After Exponentiation” · view on HN
Cites itiamaadityaJul 2020

“And here is the man himself describing it”

Ron Graham himself describing his number

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Graham's Number, as in 3 ↑↑ 3, is named after Ron Graham. [1] link [2] link [3] And here is the man himself describing it this video