TLDR: The largest number is 16 digits long

Ask an astronomer and we travel in aeons into the universe and beyond.

Ask a microbiologist and we slip into mystical quarks and preons, the constructing blocks of the whole lot.

Ask my 5 12 months old and also you get 643.

It is a query everyone can guess, but while you get to the nitty-gritty is surprisingly personal.

Infinity

I’m discounting it, like imaginary numbers, infinity is an alchemy, an emblem, moderately than a practicable digit. It could never appear on a tape measure.

Listed below are the parameters:

1. Every individual digit must count:

It’s awesome that the universe is estimated at 93 billion light years from end to finish, however it may very well be 93.4 or 93.5 and each can be tremendous. To get inside the hair’s breadth of detail the most important number requires would wish an application for it to make sense. Travelling from one side of the universe to the opposite can be great, but…

“You’re really not going to prefer it”

— Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

Even when we felt the necessity, this a is number we all know fluctuates. The scale of the universe is beneficial, however the variety of 93 billion light years is to showcase pure awe — a poster child for what big means.

At its best it’s merely a reference point for numbers which can be far smaller, moderately than something value knowing to billions of digits of accuracy.

2. The number should have a practical, real-world, application:

There are groups dedicated to determining long numbers for the sake of the number itself. As of writing Pi is thought to 62.8 trillion digits.