Largest Number

Largest number is mathematically meaningless (since in the usual system of integers, any number may be increased by adding one to it); however, the term may refer to:

  • Names of large numbers, for the largest numbers with names
  • Infinity, a concept which can be used as a largest number in some contexts
  • Graham's number, once claimed as the largest number ever used in a serious mathematical proof
  • Large numbers, for notations to exactly specify very large numbers

In computers:

  • The constant 32767, 2147483647, or 9223372036854775807, in a word of 16, 32, or 64 bits in two's-complement format
  • The constant 65535, 4294967295, or 18446744073709551615, in a word of 16, 32, or 64 bits with no sign bit
  • The constant 3.4028235e+38 or 1.7976931348623157e+308, in a word of 32 or 64 bits using the binary IEEE 754-2008 floating-point representation

Famous quotes containing the words largest and/or number:

    The eager fate which carried thee
    Took the largest part of me:
    For this losing is true dying;
    This is lordly man’s down-lying,
    This his slow but sure reclining,
    Star by star his world resigning.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    The more elevated a culture, the richer its language. The number of words and their combinations depends directly on a sum of conceptions and ideas; without the latter there can be no understandings, no definitions, and, as a result, no reason to enrich a language.
    Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)