What is the biggest number other than infinity?

Biggest Number

Infinity is not a number; it's an idea. Infinity is not so much a number as it is the very concept of a number or amount increasing for eternity. If a function increases to 3, it never gets any bigger than 3. But when a function increases to infinity, it never stops getting bigger.

Largest prime number

A far more interesting question might be What is the largest prime number ever discovered?

An integer greater than one whose only positive divisors (factors) are itself and one is a prime number. The first six prime numbers are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, and 13. (The only even prime number is two.) As the prime numbers grow larger, it becomes increasingly difficult to prove that they are, in fact, prime.

The largest known primes are now approaching 10 million digits in length. The latest prime number contains 9,808,358 digits. Its value -- which obviously is too long to type here! -- is equal to 2^32582657 - 1.

It is worth noting that though this is the largest specific number which has been proven to be prime, there are infinitely many prime numbers. Thus, though this is the largest known prime, there are infinitely many larger numbers which are also prime.

Another Take on the Question

There really is no "biggest number" for the simple reason that the largest number anyone can come up with can simply have 1 added to it to achieve a still larger number. However, the largest number with a "common name" is a googolplex, which is a 1, followed by 10 to the power of 100 of zeroes. There is also a number called Skewes' number which is 10^10^10^34. It is used in a branch of math called number theory and is approximately 10^googolplex.

What is Meant by Infinity?

Infinity usually refers to something that is larger than the number system you are dealing with. For example, a computer has a notion of "infinity" that is just a finite number. But the computer cannot comprehend all the real numbers, such as pi or the square root of 2, as humans can.

As such, the infinity that humans usually talk about refers to the limit of n as n keeps getting larger. So if you keep counting consecutive integers, what is the largest one?

There is no largest one, but we call the upper bound "infinity". But there are higher orders of infinity, such as the cardinality of the real numbers, also known as the continuum. Indeed, there are infinitely many infinities, each one infinitely larger than previous. One uses set theory to add a structure to such mind-boggling sizes, but there is a method to the madness.

Different Kinds of Infinity

To a mathematician, the word "infinity" means many different things depending on the context. They are intuitively similar but not always related.

• In Analysis, you can talk about a sequence x_n tending to infinity as n tends to infinity; or we might have a function f(x) tending to infinity as x tends to 0. Etc.
• In complex analysis there is an object called the Riemann Sphere, which can be conceived as the field of complex numbers with an extra point added, denoted by the symbol for infinity (sideways 8).
• In Set Theory, there is the concept of infinite cardinals. One can also talk about infinite ordinals. Both cardinals and ordinals come in finite varieties too; these are essentially the natural numbers.
• Whereas the set of natural numbers can be extended to either the cardinals or the ordinals by adding "infinite" numbers, the field of real numbers can be extended to another field known as the "surreal" numbers. These include "infinite" numbers, as well as "infinitesimals" (numbers greater than 0 but less than all positive numbers).
• Some infinities are bigger than others. The smallest infinity is called countably infinite and is were the set is able to be in a one to one correspondence with the natural (or counting) numbers. A larger infinity is the number of all real numbers on any interval.
  Strangely this means the amount of odd numbers, the amount of even numbers and the amount of natural (counting) numbers are all the same. Also the amount of all real numbers (or all decimals) between zero and one is the same amount as the amount of a real numbers.

I made up A number. First, take 9⁷² to the 9⁷² power do that to the 9⁷² power. Reapeat this step and evaluate the powers 3970 times. Now add 1.

Alternate Answer

The largest number possible is the limit on X as X goes to infinity. In mathematics, limits are used to show a number that is infinitely close to another number, and a left handed limit is used to show a number that is an infinitely small amount less than another number. Therefore the lefthanded limit as X aproaches infinity is the next biggest number after infinity.

But X first has to be higher than infinity to take the left handed limit and there is no X bigger than infinity that is not also smaller than infinity and not also equal to infinity. (basically X is infinity and so the argument goes as an already infinite number approaches infinity... and this doesn't make mathematical sense)

More Facts

Also the largest number that can be written with 5 characters is "9⁹!!!" - quite big isn't it?

Infinity + any number=Infinity

Infinity - any number= Infinity

Infinity x any number=Infinity

Infinity / any number=Infinity

There is NO infinity

Actually, there is nothing like infinity. It is a poetic way of speaking in Maths. Formally, it is a convention and a special notation in order to simplify expression. Keep in mind that in different contexts the infinity-arithmetic may be different.

Infinity is a Concept

Infinity is not a number, but rather a concept or idea. It is a way of representing endlessness in math. There is no number larger than infinity because it is not a number but a concept meaning going on and on forever.

First answer by Klox. Last edit by Aitter. Contributor trust: 97 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 78 [recommend question]