Skewes' Massive Number - Numberphile

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  • čas přidán 22. 10. 2015
  • Dr James Grime on the epic Skewes' Number.
    Lynda free trial (worth a look): www.lynda.com/numberphile
    More links & stuff in full description below ↓↓↓
    Prime numbers: bit.ly/primevids
    Graham's Number: bit.ly/GrahamsNumber
    A small bit we chopped from this video: • Skewes' Number (tiny b...
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    Videos by Brady Haran
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    70s James Grime drawn by Pete McPartlan...
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Komentáře • 1,5K

  • @pupnoomann7866
    @pupnoomann7866 Před 8 lety +2915

    "1899 - 1988"
    This is great.

    • @jordanlagarde
      @jordanlagarde Před 8 lety +30

      +Horst Kevin von Goethe Makes me feel a little OCD, but that was the first thing I though of.

    • @peppybocan
      @peppybocan Před 8 lety +97

      +Jordan Lagarde yea... he could live from 1888 to 1999... that would be insane :D

    • @nekoblitz
      @nekoblitz Před 8 lety +115

      +Peter Bočan Nah. From 1111 to 2222.

    • @aka5
      @aka5 Před 8 lety +39

      +LightningCat Craft Wouldn't he be dying a little young?

    • @quarkyquasar893
      @quarkyquasar893 Před 8 lety +62

      +Akașșș You are correct 1111 years is a very little time to life :(

  • @pyromen321
    @pyromen321 Před 8 lety +2981

    I love his enthusiasm so much!

    • @TheCornflake01
      @TheCornflake01 Před 8 lety +13

      +pyromen321 me too!

    • @GottgleicherMaster
      @GottgleicherMaster Před 8 lety +20

      +Slaughter round i first thought pyromen is talking to himself :D

    • @user-dj1hy6zc6q
      @user-dj1hy6zc6q Před 8 lety +6

      +pyromen321
      Have you ever noticed how large his pupils are in every video? I think his enthusiasm is somewhat medicated.

    • @Lockirby2
      @Lockirby2 Před 8 lety +4

      +Marc Tißler For half a second I thought pyromen was talking to "been there". *facepalm*

    • @iavv334
      @iavv334 Před 8 lety +1

      +ty_ger Nah he just has dark eyes. Beautiful, dark eyes.

  • @anticorncob6
    @anticorncob6 Před 8 lety +549

    I've never understood why people use log(x) with base e. ln(x) is shorter to write, and people won't mistake or get confused on whether log is with base e or base 10.

    • @alansmithee419
      @alansmithee419 Před 4 lety +44

      I didn't know people did that, and now that I do, I am sad. :(

    • @poisonoushallucinations3168
      @poisonoushallucinations3168 Před 4 lety +38

      Solution: Don’t use log(x). Just ln(x) for base e and lg(x) for base 10

    • @alansmithee419
      @alansmithee419 Před 4 lety +62

      @@poisonoushallucinations3168 well, we are supposed to only use ln(x) for e, log(x) for ten, and log-subsript n-(x) for base n, so we have a solution, but apparently not everyone follows the rule, leading to confusion. Like grammar, but maths!

    • @poisonoushallucinations3168
      @poisonoushallucinations3168 Před 4 lety +7

      alan smithee log(x) isn’t for 10 though. It’s been arbitrary for quite a while, with 10 and e being the more common bases. The newer notation lg(x) for base 10’s there to help to avoid confusion when using log(x) without specifying a base

    • @alansmithee419
      @alansmithee419 Před 4 lety

      @@poisonoushallucinations3168 well, you can take it up with the a level boards, I won't argue on their behalf.

  • @givemeyourfish
    @givemeyourfish Před 8 lety +1758

    I would love an "R rated" numberphile that assumes complete knowledge of Calculus or the like

    • @gordontaylor2815
      @gordontaylor2815 Před 8 lety +92

      +Michael Marks I think that's what the Numberphile 2 channel is for.

    • @themcalmic148
      @themcalmic148 Před 6 lety +10

      Michael Marks lol

    • @Zaros262
      @Zaros262 Před 4 lety +82

      "Numberphile: Adult Swim"

    • @AlexKing-tg9hl
      @AlexKing-tg9hl Před 4 lety +14

      Michael Marks I would leave a like but I did bad in calc so

    • @mueezadam8438
      @mueezadam8438 Před 4 lety +10

      @Michael Marks I don’t know if I would be able to show that to my children, they’re too young!

  • @josephedmond3723
    @josephedmond3723 Před 8 lety +440

    Skewes lived from 1899 to 1988. Thats interesting in itself

    • @tonybates7870
      @tonybates7870 Před 8 lety +24

      No, it isn't.

    • @uuu12343
      @uuu12343 Před 6 lety +22

      Tony Bates
      Matt Parker would fight you for that :^V

    • @Tomanna
      @Tomanna Před 6 lety +6

      Tony Bates you don't decide that

    • @kelli217
      @kelli217 Před 6 lety +13

      So, if they'd had Numberphile in the 70s, they could have had Skewes himself talking about Skewes' number, just as they've had Graham talking about Graham's number.
      Don't get me wrong; Asimov would have been a great guest, but he wouldn't have been able to talk about it the same way as the mathematician himself.

    • @user-uu1nw1bl9j
      @user-uu1nw1bl9j Před 5 lety +2

      That's so not interesting. Unless the approximate birth of Christ and our arbitrary calendar that followed from it mean anything to you.

  • @Ian07_
    @Ian07_ Před 7 lety +946

    10^10^10^34 has 10^10^34 digits.
    10^10^34 has 10^34 digits.
    I think "trillions and trillions of digits" is a bit of an understatement.

    • @chessandmathguy
      @chessandmathguy Před 6 lety +79

      Ian 07 off by 1, but close if you're rounding. 10^n has n+1 digits.

    • @anandsuralkar2947
      @anandsuralkar2947 Před 5 lety +3

      True

    • @2s7a2m7
      @2s7a2m7 Před 5 lety +5

      So it's a 1 followed by 3400 zeros (less than a trillion digits long)?

    • @pwootjuhs
      @pwootjuhs Před 5 lety +11

      2s7a2m7 the number you just described is how many digits there are in swewes' number

    • @sangramjitchakraborty7845
      @sangramjitchakraborty7845 Před 5 lety +46

      2s7a2m7 dude 10^10^34 has 10^34 zeroes after it.. which alone is more than a trillion. 10^10^10^34 is mind numbingly larger than that..

  • @ozzyboo1068
    @ozzyboo1068 Před 5 lety +28

    Dr James talking about the 70's *"Numberphile"* is just amazing! He is very enthusiastic!

  • @DrEvil-uw1ju
    @DrEvil-uw1ju Před 8 lety +42

    It's been a while since the last James Grime video he's my favourite. He's just so happy and optimistic and an incredible explainer.

  • @juangreen8194
    @juangreen8194 Před 8 lety +139

    Compared to Grahams number, that number and 1 are virtually the same.

    • @christopher9624
      @christopher9624 Před 5 lety +31

      Compared to TREE (3), Graham's Number is practically 1
      Compared to loaders number, TREE (3) is practically 1
      Compared to typical busy beaver numbers, all of the above are practically 1

    • @blue9139
      @blue9139 Před 5 lety +1

      Christopher
      Yea lol. RELEASE DAT OBVILION

    • @ZeHoSmusician
      @ZeHoSmusician Před 4 lety +15

      This reminds me of one of Carl Sagan's quotes in Cosmos (Ep09):
      "In fact, a googolplex is precisely as far from infinity as is the number 1."

    • @anticorncob6
      @anticorncob6 Před 4 lety +10

      @@christopher9624 For every positive number n, there is a bigger number m for which n is practically 1.

    • @a.u.positronh3665
      @a.u.positronh3665 Před 3 lety +1

      @@blue9139 There is a function called M(n) I saw in numberphile' TREE(3) video. It i not Mersenne prime function, but it works like this:
      M(1) = Largest number one mathematician can define by working for a year in perfect harmony
      M(2) = Largest number two mathematician can define by working for a year in perfect harmony
      M(3) = Largest number tree mathematician can define by working for a year in perfect harmony
      ...
      Yes. It is extremely unexpectable and extremely big, bigger than ANY NUMBER ever defined. In the process of calculating the result, countless interesting notations will be made.

  • @KingCliveThe17th
    @KingCliveThe17th Před 8 lety +290

    They don't mention it in the video, but Skewes' result assumes the generalised Riemann hypothesis. Without that assumption, Skewe's upper bound is 10^10^10^963. Quite a big bigger.

    • @JaapZeldenrust
      @JaapZeldenrust Před 8 lety +29

      +Giggstow No, if the first instance of the inequality flipping was over 10^10^10^34, that would in fact disprove the generalised Riemann hypothesis. As the last part of the video shows, we already know that the inequality flips at a much smaller number than 10^10^10^34, but that's not proof of the Riemann hypothesis either, because it's inductive, and proof needs to be deductive.

    • @TheOnlyMeta
      @TheOnlyMeta Před 8 lety +3

      +Giggstow no, the implication is only one way

    • @PersonaRandomNumbers
      @PersonaRandomNumbers Před 8 lety +1

      +Luke Shirley Modus tollens would like a word with you.

    • @IAlreadyHaveAKey
      @IAlreadyHaveAKey Před 8 lety +12

      +pyropulse Nah mathematical induction is a form of deductive reasoning.

    • @TheOnlyMeta
      @TheOnlyMeta Před 8 lety

      Persona GRH is not the contrapositive of that statement.

  • @TheHoaxHotel
    @TheHoaxHotel Před 8 lety +54

    After this discovery, Skewes sketched up the first known rules for Flipadelphia.

  • @kayleighlehrman9566
    @kayleighlehrman9566 Před 5 lety +83

    I'm much more interested in the "e^e^e^79" number shown in the excerpts of the paper

    • @stephenbeck7222
      @stephenbeck7222 Před 4 lety +40

      That number is the actual number Skewes found but writing it (or a close enough approximation) with 10’s as the bases is slightly easier to comprehend.

    • @findystonerush9339
      @findystonerush9339 Před 3 lety +1

      ARG!! you * _ * miuf!

  • @rrxqz
    @rrxqz Před 8 lety +212

    1:50 JUST DO IT!!! DONT LET YOUR DREAMS BE DREAMS!

    • @whoeveriam0iam14222
      @whoeveriam0iam14222 Před 8 lety +13

      +RXQZ they really should.. but without the smoking.. it's not the actual 1970s anymore and smoking should not get advertised like that ever again

    • @simovihinen875
      @simovihinen875 Před 8 lety +16

      +whoeveriam0iam14222
      Maybe after a googol googol googol years it SHOULD get advertised again? Stop extrapolating.

    • @turoni314
      @turoni314 Před 8 lety

      +Simo Vihinen The universe might have stopped and started a few times again since then so yeah maybe it should be advertised then, who knows.

    • @Mr.Feckless
      @Mr.Feckless Před 8 lety

      +whoeveriam0iam14222 Come on man, don't you wanna be cool?

    • @Mr.Feckless
      @Mr.Feckless Před 8 lety

      ***** I asked you first.

  • @ejesbd
    @ejesbd Před 8 lety +6

    I especially like the videos with Dr. James Grime. His genuine enthusiasm and passion for what he's talking about makes the topic very interesting!

  • @mattstirling6317
    @mattstirling6317 Před 6 lety +12

    "AND IT APPEARS THAT THIS INEQUALITY HOLDS AND THEN .. it flips."

  • @yichern4351
    @yichern4351 Před 7 lety +685

    "Numbah"

    • @robmckennie4203
      @robmckennie4203 Před 6 lety +39

      Peter Bergmann let me just clue you in, James is English, this is how words are supposed to sound

    • @mrnarason
      @mrnarason Před 5 lety +35

      Peter Bergmann The English butcher their own language.

    • @anandsuralkar2947
      @anandsuralkar2947 Před 5 lety +6

      He talks weird though

    • @okie9025
      @okie9025 Před 5 lety +8

      Well you wouldn't pronounce it NUMBEARR would you

    • @kingcrimson4133
      @kingcrimson4133 Před 5 lety +12

      It's called an accent. The U.K has a lot of them. So does America.

  • @ludovicosebastio4729
    @ludovicosebastio4729 Před 8 lety +13

    Love Numberphile and Dr. Grime!

  • @tbabubba32682
    @tbabubba32682 Před 8 lety +446

    TREE(3) Please do a video on TREE(3).

    • @tub944
      @tub944 Před 8 lety +34

      Yes please

    • @General12th
      @General12th Před 8 lety +31

      +J.R. Trevino I've been super curious about this. TREE(3) is apparently bigger than Graham's number.

    • @breathless792
      @breathless792 Před 8 lety +13

      +Jordan Shank yes it is, apparently Grahams number in unnoticeable by comparison

    • @Er404ChannelNotFound
      @Er404ChannelNotFound Před 8 lety +4

      YES! YES! YES!

    • @ganondorfchampin
      @ganondorfchampin Před 7 lety +7

      Loader's number is nothing special, it's just the output of a computer program.

  • @ygalel
    @ygalel Před 3 lety +2

    Wow. I can tell JUST by the tone of his voice how excited he was about Graham's number. I am so jealous.

  • @lawrencecalablaster568
    @lawrencecalablaster568 Před 8 lety +3

    James, this is awesome! I'd love to see 1970s Numberphile. I love huge numbers like these.

  • @verioffkin
    @verioffkin Před 8 lety +3

    Always a joy to see you, guys, even if there's absolutely no chance to understant a thing what this all about.

  • @thom_wye
    @thom_wye Před 8 lety +33

    please do a 70's Numberphile episode.
    PLEEEASE!

  • @Tker1970
    @Tker1970 Před 2 lety +4

    I love how James can really make me grasp something that's way over my head-enough to understand-without making me feel like an idiot-even when he needs to use math that's far nehind my capability.

  • @Crunkmastaflexx
    @Crunkmastaflexx Před 8 lety +90

    Man Numberphile makes math seem like something sweet to study, too bad nothing like this is taught in college, not even in the fourth year.

    • @Thomas_Bergel
      @Thomas_Bergel Před 4 lety +7

      Crunkmastaflexx
      I feel like numberphile is really dumbed down...

    • @ryansatoshi7932
      @ryansatoshi7932 Před 4 lety +1

      I... learned about Graham's Number, Skewes' and TREE at 5th grade...

    • @ryansatoshi7932
      @ryansatoshi7932 Před 4 lety

      I... learned about Graham's Number, Skewes' and TREE at 5th grade...

  • @stefanilserbo2
    @stefanilserbo2 Před 8 lety +347

    singingbanana in our hearth

    • @peppybocan
      @peppybocan Před 8 lety

      +stefanilserbo sing along with him :D ;)

    • @logmeinwtf
      @logmeinwtf Před 8 lety +1

      +stefanilserbo rest in peperoni

    • @error.418
      @error.418 Před 8 lety +12

      +stefanilserbo In our hearth? Did you light him on fire?

    • @stefanilserbo2
      @stefanilserbo2 Před 8 lety

      +Anonymous User I made a mathematical diagram of his body and then made a tattoo on my heart of his formula

    • @error.418
      @error.418 Před 8 lety

      stefanilserbo You said hearth, not heart, in your original comment

  • @TakeWalker
    @TakeWalker Před 8 lety +7

    The best part of this video is watching Dr. Grimes geek out over Ron Graham. :D

  • @RetroGamingClashOfClans

    I love the videos with this man !!

  • @Josh-qi4fq
    @Josh-qi4fq Před 8 lety

    So good to see James again!

  • @spazmobot
    @spazmobot Před 8 lety +19

    Sooooo frigging good! I wanna see 70's Numberphile!!

  • @efrataitel
    @efrataitel Před 8 lety +5

    We love James :)

  • @MrSupernova111
    @MrSupernova111 Před 7 lety

    Very interesting! I really love your channel!

  • @Tubluer
    @Tubluer Před 8 lety

    I had no idea that the concept behind Skewe's number was so simple. So I just ignored it., thinking it would not be worth the effort to understand it. And you knocked it flat in ten minutes. Well done!

  • @Eli-qu4bs
    @Eli-qu4bs Před 7 lety +5

    "We'd have massive ties and be constantly smoking" lol

  • @Gargantupimp
    @Gargantupimp Před 4 lety +2

    I wish I was as happy about anything in life as this man is about math.

  • @z-beeblebrox
    @z-beeblebrox Před 6 lety +1

    On reflection, a few years later, what I love about this number is that it's the upper bound of an approximation of an indirect observation of an inequality of an approximation for counting primes. Such beautiful indirectness

  • @ceruchi2084
    @ceruchi2084 Před 5 lety

    This is the Numberphile vid I've rewatched the most times. I always return to see the smoking '70s Grime, but then I remember what a cool concept is actually being discussed.

  • @LaGuerre19
    @LaGuerre19 Před 5 lety +6

    I know I just commented about this about 9 minutes ago, but it needs to be said again: *_JAMES GRIMES' ENTHUSIASM FOR MATHEMATICS IS JUST ABOUT THE PUREST THING ONLINE._*
    P.S. (takes a long drag on a cigarette) Smoking is baaaaaaad.

  • @Hakusan75
    @Hakusan75 Před 8 lety +9

    I actually understood the formula he explained perfectly fine. The one where he said that "some of you won't be familiar with what I'm going to do." I feel like my studies have gone pretty well.

  • @BillRicker
    @BillRicker Před 8 lety +2

    The animated sketches of Dr A -- and the 1970s typography are amazingly, disturbingly on-point.

  • @AtomicHermit
    @AtomicHermit Před 7 lety +1

    And here you have somebody who was fortunate enough to have been tutored in mathematics over 30 years ago (and paid for it by reading and describing to him the Modesty Blaise cartoon every day) watching your beautifully done explanation and remembering Stanley's enthusiasm for mathematics. Well done.

  • @themanwiththepan
    @themanwiththepan Před 8 lety +73

    1970s style numberphile go

  • @Ilander86
    @Ilander86 Před 8 lety +6

    You must sell the 70s Numberphile T-shirt, now, you know!

  • @sunnysood8702
    @sunnysood8702 Před 8 lety

    Very interesting video. Keep up the good work.

  • @TheAustinTalbert
    @TheAustinTalbert Před 4 lety +1

    I love how I don’t understand this but still watch it.

  • @apratimghosh109
    @apratimghosh109 Před 6 lety +3

    I am 15 years old. I watch numberphile.

  • @StGroovy
    @StGroovy Před 8 lety +3

    Whew. That sure takes a load off my mind. I'm always nervous that my inequality sign will flip when I'm dealing with powers of a thousand.

  • @gremmy_yt
    @gremmy_yt Před 8 lety

    This man has such passion. love watching him rant :-)

  • @2gyi718
    @2gyi718 Před 7 lety +2

    Sometimes,I watch number phile even though I don't get anything because seeing the guy getting excited and enthusiastic about explaining, is somewhat fun.

  • @fightocondria
    @fightocondria Před 8 lety +16

    Wait, wait, wait now. You skipped something important. You claim that we know a run of integers where this inequality is flipped, but we don't know the first time it flips. So that means we somehow know how many prime numbers there are under some numbers, but not under smaller numbers. This requires an explanation :p. Please explain.

    • @stephenbeck7222
      @stephenbeck7222 Před 4 lety

      I think the issue is that the way we calculate pi(x) for large x is by using li(x) and the known error formula which involves related functions of li(x). And calculating li(x) for large x is not an easy task. This approach was formulated by Reimann and is greatly connected to his zeta function, so much of the discussion of the solution to this problem revolves around assumption of the Reimann hypothesis.

    • @binashah3106
      @binashah3106 Před 4 lety +1

      would you reply me after 4 years

  • @cortster12
    @cortster12 Před 8 lety +13

    Wait, is this where the word 'skewed' came about in common speech as well, or is that a coincidence?

    • @MysteryHendrik
      @MysteryHendrik Před 8 lety +11

      It’s a coincidence.
      Source: en.wiktionary.org/wiki/skew

    • @bgezal
      @bgezal Před 8 lety +6

      +cortster12 It's because Skewes got skewered once during a lecture and did a big number on it.

  • @HKAngne
    @HKAngne Před 8 lety

    James is downright Awesome! :D
    Makes it gripping, always..

  • @EmilianoHeyns
    @EmilianoHeyns Před 8 lety +1

    I just can't get enough of James talking about numbahs :)

  • @gui1521
    @gui1521 Před 8 lety +136

    But is there a number where the two functions give the same value? It's quite unlikely but possible...

    • @josevillegas5243
      @josevillegas5243 Před 8 lety +29

      +Flandre Scarlet I believe both estimation functions are undefined for x=1 and x=0

    • @ben1996123
      @ben1996123 Před 8 lety +9

      +Flandre Scarlet yes but not at an integer value of x

    • @MrFeanaro9
      @MrFeanaro9 Před 8 lety +19

      +Flandre Scarlet I may be wrong but since both functions are continuous for large numbers, the intermediate value theorem should be usable to show that there should be one specific number (exactly where the equality sign flips) that gives equal values for both functions. I imagine it would be a number with a long if not infinite tail of decimal places.
      In short, as x increases, the functions have to get closer and closer together before the equality sign flips, very briefly becoming equal as the flip happens.

    • @ben1996123
      @ben1996123 Před 8 lety +40

      ***** pi(x) isnt continuous at primes but li(x) is almost certainly never an integer when x is an integer

    • @MrFeanaro9
      @MrFeanaro9 Před 8 lety +1

      Thanks for the info :) Just to be clear I was referring to the approximation pi(x) = x/ln(x) which is continuous for x < 1. If there are points for which pi(x) < li(x) and for which pi(x) > li(x) then there has to be a real number in between where pi(x) = li(x) for a specific real x. That is what I assumed was being asked.

  • @peppybocan
    @peppybocan Před 8 lety +4

    Skewes lived from 1899 to 1988? That's skewed!

  • @SledgerFromTDS.
    @SledgerFromTDS. Před 3 lety +2

    The Really, Humungous, Gigantic, Enormous, Massive Skewes Number

  • @fantiscious
    @fantiscious Před rokem +2

    Bonus fact: 10^10^10^34 was found ASSUMING the Riemann Hypothesis was true. In 1955, Skewes found another number (10^10^10^964) that was without the use of the hypothesis.

  • @Tsskyx
    @Tsskyx Před 8 lety +104

    what about tree(3), are you also going to make a video about that?

  • @car-keys
    @car-keys Před 7 lety +44

    Does this mean that there is some real number x where π(x) = Li(x)?

    • @brendanbeaver3804
      @brendanbeaver3804 Před 7 lety +11

      The better way of saying what Greg said is that those functions aren't continuous, they're discrete, since you can only plug whole numbers into them. So no, there isn't necessarily a point where they cross.

    • @ahmedouerfelli4709
      @ahmedouerfelli4709 Před 7 lety

      +Brendan Beaver Functions that are defined on discrete spaces are necessarily continuous.
      It's a basic topological concept, since every subset of a discrete topological space is open.

    • @hpekristiansen
      @hpekristiansen Před 7 lety +3

      A discrete function is by definition not continous.

    • @hpekristiansen
      @hpekristiansen Před 7 lety

      At the flip the functions will be close. Why do you think that they could not be equal there?

    • @user-px5tq1fg3u
      @user-px5tq1fg3u Před 7 lety

      +hpekristiansen because they might truly have very close values, but we cannot say the values would be exactly the same at a certain point merely because the signs flip, since we do not know if the functions are continuous. Check out the intermediate theorem.

  • @Prasen1729
    @Prasen1729 Před 3 lety +1

    This is so amazing. I watch again and again. James is so wonderful as a teacher. He also says how it would be if Isaac Asimov talks about it on 70s Numeberphile. :-D He is superb this guy.

  • @mathman1923
    @mathman1923 Před 8 lety

    love the paisley in the background at 5:46 and the 70's bit at the start

  • @CristiNeagu
    @CristiNeagu Před 8 lety +11

    I always thought ln(x) is the natural logarithm, in base e, and log(x) is the logarithm in base 10. Oh well, different notations again, i suppose.

    • @peter_babic
      @peter_babic Před 8 lety +1

      +Cristi Neagu calculators, i.e. common CASIO fx-991ES has it like you know it too. I do also know / use it like it.

    • @pfeifenheini
      @pfeifenheini Před 8 lety +2

      +Cristi Neagu Yeah the notations of logarithms are weird. ln(x) is usually the natural logarithm to base e, never seen something else. But then there is lg(x) which is either base 2 or 10, lb(x) and ld(x) usually base 2 and log(x) really depends on the context. Its often base 10, but it can be anything.

    • @NatsumiHinata
      @NatsumiHinata Před 8 lety +7

      +Cristi Neagu In advanced mathematics, natural logarithm is conventionally detonated as "log(x)", since there is absolutely no need to use logarithm in base 10. If you ever need to use log base 10 (which you will probably very rarely do in advanced mathematics), you may just write: (logx)/(log10) (this is due to base change formula).
      Conversely, In biology, astronomy, or engineering, natural log is almost absent and therefore log(x) will indeed refer to base 10 log.

    • @ulilulable
      @ulilulable Před 8 lety +1

      +KevinJRattman For exactly the same reason, we almost never wrote "log" in my engineering studies (since there's no need for logarithms in base 10), but used "ln" for almost everything. "log" would mostly be used for the extended, complex-valued, version of the natural logarithm.

    • @EpicB
      @EpicB Před 8 lety +1

      +Cristi Neagu In some contexts, ln(x) is denoted as log(x) where it's clear that the natural log is being used. For contexts where it's less clear, the notation ln(x) is used instead.

  • @bob53135
    @bob53135 Před 5 lety +6

    8:48 : The use of an "x" as the multiplication symbol bothers me. It's even more unforgivable as it's written with a serif font and doesn't even look like a simple cross anymore.

  • @Dr.HazharGhaderi
    @Dr.HazharGhaderi Před 8 lety

    Thanks for this really interesting episode :)

  • @mibo747
    @mibo747 Před 4 lety

    What a genius video and all series!!!

  • @LetsTakeWalk
    @LetsTakeWalk Před 8 lety +7

    I'm googolplexed by it.

  • @markconrad9619
    @markconrad9619 Před 8 lety +43

    Question is how many times does it flip within Graham's number??

  • @olopower
    @olopower Před 8 lety

    Ive been watching numberphile for over an hour now and this episode finally made me say it... I dont understand anything but i want to watch more

  • @bopakboom2819
    @bopakboom2819 Před rokem

    i love watching this man

  •  Před 8 lety +4

    Have they changed nomenclature? I learnt that, if we are writing numbers on base 10, log means log on base 10, not on base e as they use on the video.
    Log on base e is normally written as ln.

    • @ben1996123
      @ben1996123 Před 8 lety +4

      +Víktor Bautista i Roca once you finish high school, log becomes natural log. no one uses log10

    • @RylanEdlin
      @RylanEdlin Před 8 lety

      That's a typical notation in high school. In university, they usually assume log is a natural log unless otherwise labeled.

    • @tabularasa0606
      @tabularasa0606 Před 8 lety +2

      +Rylan Edlin Except on calculators.

    • @ib9rt
      @ib9rt Před 8 lety

      +ben1996123 In pure mathematics that may be true, but in science and engineering ln() is commonly used to denote natural log, where otherwise one would have to write either log (subscript) e or log (subscript) 10 to avoid ambiguity. (In science and engineering, clear, accurate communication is essential, and every item of nomenclature must be defined where used. In this arena some forms of shorthand notation have become universally adopted for the convenience of all concerned.)

    • @0xEA61E
      @0xEA61E Před 8 lety

      +Víktor Bautista i Roca log is the traditional way to write natural log. Base 10 logs are easier to teach, so you learn those first, and we just decided to switch the usage of log to log10 for education. Now it's kind of muddled and recommended that you specify somewhere which is which.

  • @richardtowers6948
    @richardtowers6948 Před 8 lety +3

    There's a little bit of fudging going on here. James only uses the integer result from the Li(x) function and says that Pi(x) appears to always be less than. Under those conditions the rule actually fails for Pi(13):
    Pi(x) = Int(Li(x)) (=6)
    However, while James says "always less than" he actually contradicts himself by writing "less than or equal". Is he trying to have his pie and eat it, I wonder? Either way the pie looks a little bit sloppy ;-)

  • @OwenPrescott
    @OwenPrescott Před 8 lety +12

    That portrait illustration is... creepy.

    • @mbk_from_va
      @mbk_from_va Před 8 lety

      Numberphile, did you guys snatch up an animator from Daytrotter?

    • @christosvoskresye
      @christosvoskresye Před 8 lety

      +Owen Prescott You mean of 1970's Numberphile? I think it's cool. Or at least funny.

    • @Pouk3D
      @Pouk3D Před 8 lety

      +Owen Prescott I take issue with the guy having a weirdly red upper lip/ undernose area.

  • @cookiesop9487
    @cookiesop9487 Před 7 lety

    Understood the formula. Felt so smart.

  • @LaatiMafia
    @LaatiMafia Před 8 lety +59

    1 000 000 000 is a milliard ;)

    • @SparklyRazor
      @SparklyRazor Před 8 lety +18

      +Laatikkomafia In english big numbers aren't called the same as they are in your language (and mine as well). So he's not wrong, but I get how it can screw up your head.

    • @tabularasa0606
      @tabularasa0606 Před 8 lety +33

      There's a Numberphile video about that.

    • @xGhostModex
      @xGhostModex Před 8 lety

      +tabularasa0606 do you have a link to that? or do you know the name?

    • @CC-wc2ro
      @CC-wc2ro Před 8 lety

      +Laatikkomafia billion

    • @ARP2wefightforyou
      @ARP2wefightforyou Před 8 lety +5

      +xGhostModex "how big is a trillion?" is the name.

  • @The_savvy_Lynx
    @The_savvy_Lynx Před 8 lety +3

    How could Stanley Skewes tell that the inequality flipped? I mean the Pi-Prime function has no closed form to this day, hence the notion for approximation right? So for recognizing the flip you would have to calculate and count all the primes of 10^10^10^34 by foot (or computer). But that doesn't sound like a task that could be done by computers yet, or at least by the computers of 50-100 years ago when he did this work. Do we have any genius here to resolve this question? ;)

    • @ben1996123
      @ben1996123 Před 8 lety

      +Patrick Fame you dont need to know the values of pi(x) and li(x) to show that one is larger than the other

    • @The_savvy_Lynx
      @The_savvy_Lynx Před 8 lety

      Why not? How can you show one is bigger than the other without having actual values?

    • @ben1996123
      @ben1996123 Před 8 lety +11

      Patrick Fame because analytic number theory is magic

    • @The_savvy_Lynx
      @The_savvy_Lynx Před 8 lety

      ben1996123
      Not sure if trolling or just not eager to be helpful. I would really like to know. As a computer scientist, analysis and co are not my prime fields of mathematics.

    • @ben1996123
      @ben1996123 Před 8 lety +6

      Patrick Fame neither. i told you. analytic number theory. but don't expect to understand it unless you do a phd or something. the largest value of pi(x) known is only pi(10^26) which i think took about 15 cpu years and 128gb of ram to compute.

  • @tomfieselmann5906
    @tomfieselmann5906 Před 8 lety

    I don't always understand it all, but always interesting!!!

  • @Wublam
    @Wublam Před 8 lety +1

    I always wonder, does he have all the numbers written down somewhere on paper outside the camera or does he just know these numbers by heart? He seems like such nice guy! Great video as always!

  • @Shadowflame919
    @Shadowflame919 Před 8 lety +20

    The same guy made Tec-9 | Isaac and Awp | Asimov
    Isaac Asimov? coincidence?

  • @vanhouten64
    @vanhouten64 Před 8 lety +26

    I can conceive an even greater number than Graham's Number. Vanhouten's Number = Graham's Number + 1.

    • @jatinbhende3205
      @jatinbhende3205 Před 6 lety +1

      vanhouten64 and we also know its last digit......It's 8 :)

    • @flatearthdeth9165
      @flatearthdeth9165 Před 6 lety

      Vanhouten's number plus 99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

    • @robmckennie4203
      @robmckennie4203 Před 6 lety

      Infinity+1!!! (Saying it loudly makes me more right)

    • @aeb4865
      @aeb4865 Před 6 lety +3

      My number: The biggest number that will ever be found + 1. If you find a greater number than my number, it is still gonna be one bigger than yours. Checkmate.

    • @user-uu1nw1bl9j
      @user-uu1nw1bl9j Před 5 lety +2

      Everyone can conceive a greater number than any number, but we're talking numbers that have been used in mathematical proofs.

  • @jevicci
    @jevicci Před 8 lety

    This stuff gets sooo esoteric. Love it.

  • @Alfetto8
    @Alfetto8 Před 7 lety

    I love that paper, so elegant and simple even a kid could understand that.

  • @matix676
    @matix676 Před 7 lety +22

    So my number is 42^69^420^(number of views of this video)
    I use this number in my theory about estimated number of atoms in the universe. Cheers.

    •  Před 7 lety +20

      the number of atoms in the universe is 10^80

    • @matix676
      @matix676 Před 7 lety +2

      João Victor Pacífico Well, according to my theory its square root of my number so... You are wrong.

    • @TheReligiousAtheists
      @TheReligiousAtheists Před 6 lety +11

      João Victor Pacífico If you want to be a geek, at least be right. 10^80 is the APPROXIMATE number of atoms in the VISIBLE universe.

    • @armelstsrt
      @armelstsrt Před 6 lety +3

      João Victor Pacifico That's a pretty bold statement, it's actually just an approximation

    • @meta04
      @meta04 Před 5 lety

      if this video has X views, 42^69^420^X ~ 10^(1.6*69^420^X) ~ 10^69^420^X (multiplying something larger than 10^10^100 by 1.6...) ~ 10^10^(1.85*420^X) ~ 10^10^(1.85*10^(2.6X)) ~ 10^10^10^(2.6X+0.25) ~ 10^10^10^(2.6X) ~ Skewes' number when this video has 13 views, and 10^10^(2.21*10^1985999) as of when this comment was posted.
      when this video had zero views you get 42^69^420^0 = 42^69^1 = 42^69 ~ 1.01*10^112

  • @ScareYi
    @ScareYi Před 8 lety +74

    I can make a bigger number
    10^10^10^35
    kapa

    • @flawlessgenius
      @flawlessgenius Před 7 lety +21

      noone cares if you cant use that number for a proof

    • @ScareYi
      @ScareYi Před 7 lety +14

      +flawlessgenius but you care enough to make a comment about not caring.

    • @flawlessgenius
      @flawlessgenius Před 7 lety +10

      +KillzGaming i care if you have a proof
      that would be really interesting if you have a use for a number that big

    • @ScareYi
      @ScareYi Před 7 lety

      +flawlessgenius boasting that this is a bigger number

    • @ganondorfchampin
      @ganondorfchampin Před 7 lety +16

      You can always just add one, absolutely no one cares if you can create a larger number as anyone can.

  • @NoriMori1992
    @NoriMori1992 Před 8 lety +2

    It made me so excited that you talked about Isaac Asimov. He's my favourite person. You know that question "If you could spend an hour with one historical person who is no longer alive, who would it be and why?" I used to not know how to answer that question. But these days, I know it would be Isaac Asimov, without doubt.
    Knowing that he wrote about this number has made me realize that I need to read more of his non-fiction stuff, like his science articles. I started reading a book of his articles once, at my school library, and I loved it! But for the most part, I've only been reading his short stories and novels. Time to scour the internet for his science article anthologies!

  • @jhosioja
    @jhosioja Před 7 lety

    Love how excited he gets about the idea of a 70s numberphile.

  • @gaurangagarwal3243
    @gaurangagarwal3243 Před 5 lety

    Very nice cartoon of james on the thumbnail. I appreciate

  • @veggiet2009
    @veggiet2009 Před 8 lety +2

    It's official, Dr. Grimes needs a perm.

  • @brenthooton3412
    @brenthooton3412 Před 13 dny

    I started out being mildly curious about Skewes' Number, but this quickly turned to intensely wanting to see a 1970s Numberphile episode starring a chain-smoking James Grimes with a super-wide tie and epic sideburns

  • @stefanfincken4359
    @stefanfincken4359 Před 6 lety

    Now I really want to see a 70's numberphile episode!

  • @Vacuon
    @Vacuon Před 2 lety +1

    In my mind, ln(x) is log_e(x), lg(x) is log_2(x) and log(x) defaults to log_10(x)

  • @fjrjdjjjcdjjdj7282
    @fjrjdjjjcdjjdj7282 Před 5 lety

    Skewes was so happy during the Lynda ad

  • @SithDarthGendo
    @SithDarthGendo Před 4 lety

    Made me think of massive stars collapsing on themselves, shrinking in volume, passing that "flip" boundary in terms of density and then basically breaking fundamental laws of the universe.

  • @PrajwalSamal99
    @PrajwalSamal99 Před 8 lety

    Gauss did it it when he was 15 ! and I am already 16 and still at high school. I am hats off amazed and saddened at the same time.
    How can someone be so great! Is it there surrounding or their unique enthu or their natural intellect or is it something else?

    • @Reydriel
      @Reydriel Před 8 lety

      Natural intellect; he was very gifted :P

  • @vtron9832
    @vtron9832 Před 6 lety

    That 70's Numberphile Logo looks cool and you should use it more

  • @SlidellRobotics
    @SlidellRobotics Před 4 lety +1

    Big fan of Isaac Asimov; I definitely recall reading the essay JG is referring to. IA described it as the largest number usefully applied to a proof at that time.

  • @koleta666
    @koleta666 Před 8 lety

    Amazing!!

  • @Joao-fr3xk
    @Joao-fr3xk Před 5 lety

    This guy is a cool fella. Cheers from Brazil

  • @tombaker8219
    @tombaker8219 Před 6 lety

    This video sums up why i love this channel. So pointless and brilliant!
    Edit: Also, I don't know his name but this guy talking is my favourite.

  • @ZeHoSmusician
    @ZeHoSmusician Před 4 lety +1

    3:50 Log(x) is normally x's logarithm--in base 10 in this case since no specific base was given (as far as I've been taught); ln(x) represents x's natural log and is in base e, of course...
    That or some conventions have really evolved in the last 20 years...

  • @lukemceachern6783
    @lukemceachern6783 Před 8 lety

    Sharkee also did a really interesting video on big numbers, talks about Skewes' Number, as well as some other ones.

  • @Kapomafioso
    @Kapomafioso Před 7 lety

    6:22 UNTIL....oh...until (in very mysterious way)...that anticipation is killing me :O this is almost like a theatre!