The largest numbers are so huge you need special notation to write them down. David Darling and Agnijo Banerjee’s new book on big numbers will take you to the edge of mathematics
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DR EVIL (aka Adam Elga) walked up to a blackboard in front of a packed auditorium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and wrote a single 1. It was a slow but tactical start to the 2007 Big Number Duel, an event described on its posters as: “Two competitors. One chalkboard. Largest integer wins.”
The Mexican Multiplier (aka Agustin Rayo) wasn’t happy with such a slow start, so he filled in the blackboard with …