ForumGarden

Being the Geek that I am I found this LinkedIn item rather interesting.

linkedin.com/pulse/whats-largest-number-you-can-represent-3-digits-nope-its-ed-trice?trk=eml-b2_content_ecosystem_digest-recommended_articles-67-null&midToken=AQHgF2N3KlI8Ag&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=13rR36GXOoXD81

(NB I had to remove the www from the beginning of the link as, due to some FG glitch, despite having made 4752 posts, I have not yet reached the minimum 5 posts required in order to post links)

What's the largest number you can represent with 3 digits?

I'll take a shot.

9^(9^9)

I've no idea how big that is but it's 9^387420489 so it's going to have around 350 million digits in the answer.

By contrast, factorial 999 only has 2,564 digits:

402387260077093773543702433923003985719374864210714632543799910429938512398629020592044208486969404800479988610197196058631666872994808558901323829669944590997424504087073759918823627727188732519779505950995276120874975462497043601418278094646496291056393887437886487337119181045825783647849977012476632889835955735432513185323958463075557409114262417474349347553428646576611667797396668820291207379143853719588249808126867838374559731746136085379534524221586593201928090878297308431392844403281231558611036976801357304216168747609675871348312025478589320767169132448426236131412508780208000261683151027341827977704784635868170164365024153691398281264810213092761244896359928705114964975419909342221566832572080821333186116811553615836546984046708975602900950537616475847728421889679646244945160765353408198901385442487984959953319101723355556602139450399736280750137837615307127761926849034352625200015888535147331611702103968175921510907788019393178114194545257223865541461062892187960223838971476088506276862967146674697562911234082439208160153780889893964518263243671616762179168909779911903754031274622289988005195444414282012187361745992642956581746628302955570299024324153181617210465832036786906117260158783520751516284225540265170483304226143974286933061690897968482590125458327168226458066526769958652682272807075781391858178889652208164348344825993266043367660176999612831860788386150279465955131156552036093988180612138558600301435694527224206344631797460594682573103790084024432438465657245014402821885252470935190620929023136493273497565513958720559654228749774011413346962715422845862377387538230483865688976461927383814900140767310446640259899490222221765904339901886018566526485061799702356193897017860040811889729918311021171229845901641921068884387121855646124960798722908519296819372388642614839657382291123125024186649353143970137428531926649875337218940694281434118520158014123344828015051399694290153483077644569099073152433278288269864602789864321139083506217095002597389863554277196742822248757586765752344220207573630569498825087968928162753848863396909959826280956121450994871701244516461260379029309120889086942028510640182154399457156805941872748998094254742173582401063677404595741785160829230135358081840096996372524230560855903700624271243416909004153690105933983835777939410970027753472000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I am happy to own up to the fact I'm not a geek, luckily enough.

That's where the debate went. However, I was wondering if the exponent operands would count as 'digits'.

It's a technical term, digit. It consists of ten characters in the range 0 to 9. Your operands are what we in the trade refer to as punctuation.

https://www.gnu.org/software/grep/manua ... sions.html

The actual one the poster (or more to the point, his Daughter) gave was 9^9^9 (without the parentheses), but the answer was disallowed because the class had not yet been taught about exponents. Talk about Jobsworth.