Formally, it is believed that the greatest number does not exist.Numerical series can be continued indefinitely.But it makes sense to another question: What is the largest number of computations required for any application.Even if this problem is going to be very highly specialized, such as the evaporation time of the last black hole in the universe or the number of elementary particles in it though.In the applied aspect, you can name a few candidates for the greatest number.
According to the history of a very popular search engine, the name was chosen like the name of the greatest number.But what is not always specified.In fact googol (Eng. Googol) or 10 to the power of 100 - the highest number required for calculating applications.You can dial for calculations in any scientific calculator.The number of elementary particles in the universe is estimated to be 10 to 80 degrees, so why reinvent the even greater numbers?
Perhaps, for the sake of scientific interest began searching for the largest prime number (it must be divisible only by itself and 1).Later, the prime numbers was used in cryptography, so that the largest prime number to help in the creation of sustainable cipher (or breaking).In calculating prime numbers employed powerful supercomputers, and today found a number equal to ... sorry, written as (2 ^ 57,885,161) -1.The linear recording length would exceed 17 million. Characters, so keep this article would make no sense.
The largest number tried to find not only mathematics, but also physics.In science, there are a number of very small numbers, with the physical sense.Planck length, the smallest measurable interval of space, equal to 1.6 x 10 to the minus 35 degrees, and the volume of the universe should be in the present moment where a 8.5 x 10 to the power of 185 plus the Planck length.What you can use this number is still unknown.But there is less constant - Planck time ~ 10 ^ (- 45), which can also be something to share and get another very large number.
But mathematicians physicists still can not keep up, the proof of the modern theory of the existence of a large number of accounts to operate these very large numbers.It is worth to mention the number of Graham released to his time in the Guinness Book of Records.It is impossible to write using normal mathematical notation.Graham is the official number is the highest number in the world, but attempts to come up with something even more do not stop.
Finally we mention another interesting number, which can be considered the largest in its field.German fiction writer Kurd Lassvits in his story "The Universal Library" tried to compare the size of the universe and the number of all the information contained in it and structured text material.Today's Internet is accused of is that it tends to take the form of a library.But in it, according to the author, will be collected not only useful knowledge, but also erroneous, and the whole volume with punctuation marks and chaotic set of numbers and letters.However, the number was estimated to be 10 degrees 2 000 000, which is less than, for example, the largest of the calculated primes.But if there was a physical library, in the universe, it would not fit all.And the number of turns to put volume is much less than a googol.
