created 2025-03-04, & modified, =this.modified
tags:y2025numbersmathaggregator
rel: Words
NOTE
I’m not proficient in any of this higher level mathy math.
But the aspect of naming things, particular the bounding of this inconceivable vastness is intriguing. I like how a number can be basically inexpressible in a conventional way (as a matter of necessity, exhausting the written universe), but then becomes render in a new type of symbol or notation. It has that quality of touching the alien and unknown that I like.
And at some point it all becomes a bit formulaic, like you aren’t actually performing any action, just a kind of renaming operation where the reference just points back to what you were already looking at. False Decay and Simulated Weathering, Glamour and De-Glamour Why there’s a sign of Simulation
Ambiguous
Zillion (coined in the ’10s) is used colloquially where precision of a large number isn’t required. Etymologically it appears to derive from million, plus the inclusion of the variable z possibly denoting an unknown quantity.
“They’ll be as common as gunnysacks in Oakland in another year, I’ve been told. They’re going to bring ‘em over here—zillions of them.”
There are other imagined words in this category such as
- jillion (late ’30s)
- gazillion (early ’80s)
I feel each of these come with their own subtle word sense.
The Milliard also was a term for classifying large numbers. It represents a billion, or a thousand millions. The British used this till 1974, when the government switched officially.
The word Million also can carry an indefinite sense, when used in common speech (maybe due to accessibility). It’s etymological roots are a great thousand.
History
The ancient Greeks had no name for a number greater than ten thousand, the Romans for none higher than a hundred thousand. The Ancient Greeks used a system based on the myriad, that is, ten thousand, and their largest named number was a myriad myriad, or one hundred million.
Notation
Douglas Shamlin Jr. has a video of large numbers increasing. The final segment uses Bird’s array notation (BAN).
The items look like this
Rule A5c1 ([Ap] = [1 [B1] 1 [B2] ... 1 [Bq-1] 1 ¬ d #*], where q ≥ 1, d ≥ 2): S = ‘b ‹A1’› b [A1] b ‹A2’› b [A2] ... b ‹Ap-1’› b [Ap-1] b ‹Rb› b [Ap] c-1 #’, Rn = ‘b ‹B1’› b [B1] b ‹B2’› b [B2] ... b ‹Bq-1’› b [Bq-1] b ‹A1’› b [A1] b ‹A2’› b [A2] ... b ‹Ap-1’› b [Ap-1] b ‹Rn-1› b [Ap] c-1 # ¬ d-1 #*’ (n > 1), R1 = ‘0’. Rule A5c2 ([Ap] = [1 [B1] 1 [B2] ... 1 [Bq] d #*], where [Bq] = [1 [C1] 1 [C2] ... 1 [Cr-1] 1 ♦ e #**] and q ≥ 1, r ≥ 1, d ≥ 2, e ≥ 2): S = ‘b ‹A1’› b [A1] b ‹A2’› b [A2] ... b ‹Ap-1’› b [Ap-1] b ‹Rb› b [Ap] c-1 #’, Rn = ‘b ‹B1’› b [B1] b ‹B2’› b [B2] ... b ‹Bq-1’› b [Bq-1] b ‹Tn› b [Bq] d-1 #*’ (n > 1), Tn = ‘b ‹C1’› b [C1] b ‹C2’› b [C2] ... b ‹Cr-1’› b [Cr-1] b ‹A1’› b [A1] b ‹A2’› b [A2] ... b ‹Ap-1’› b [Ap-1] b ‹Rn-1› b [Ap] c-1 # ♦ e-1 #**’ (n > 1), R1 = ‘0’. Rule A5c3 ([Ap] = [1 [B1] 1 [B2] ... 1 [Bq] d #*], where [Bq] = [1 [C1] 1 [C2] ... 1 [Cr] e #**], where [Cr] = [1 ☼ k #***] and q ≥ 1, r ≥ 1, d ≥ 2, e ≥ 2, k ≥ 2): S = ‘b ‹A1’› b [A1] b ‹A2’› b [A2] ... b ‹Ap-1’› b [Ap-1] b ‹Rb› b [Ap] c-1 #’, Rn = ‘b ‹B1’› b [B1] b ‹B2’› b [B2] ... b ‹Bq-1’› b [Bq-1] b ‹Tn› b [Bq] d-1 #*’ (n > 1), Tn = ‘b ‹C1’› b [C1] b ‹C2’› b [C2] ... b ‹Cr-1’› b [Cr-1] b ‹Un› b [Cr] e-1 #**’ (n > 1), Un = ‘b ‹A1’› b [A1] b ‹A2’› b [A2] ... b ‹Ap-1’› b [Ap-1] b ‹Rn-1› b [Ap] c-1 # ☼ k-1 #***’ (n > 1), R1 = ‘0’.
Forbidden Alignments
rel:Forbidden Alignments
In the semitic and greek alphabet systems letters were used to represent numbers. In the roman alphabet although numbers were not identical to letter shapes, they were so similar that they were soon interchangeable.
In Graeco-Roman times the Jews, who had adapted the Greek system had occasional problems with it. The number 15, should have been formed by using the two letters representing 10 + 5 yh. [[Bug on Sensor|But yh are the initial letters of yhwh or Yahweh, the name of God]]. To avoid this sacrilege they wrote it as 9+6 (or tw).
For the Romans, early use of numerals involved only an additive principle: 4 was written IIII not IV. In the Middle Ages a subtractive approach was used, for example CM for 900, or 100 less than 1K. A theory for the delay in adopting subtractive practice was shying at writing IVPITER, the most powerful Roman God.
Despite Christianity dropping Jupiter, the Irish also had difficulty with adoption – as they avoided use of X due to the relationship with Christ, identical to X (chi) which Christ’s name begins in Greek.
14th Century Italy Hand Signs
rel:On Hands
Hand gestures were used to denote numbers. We see them here with figures. In the middle row the indicating hand is switched, as left hands were used to indicate 1-99, and right the others There was an indication for 1 million – the hands clasped together with the fingers interlaced. 
Archimedes
rel: The Rise and Fall of Alexandria by Pollard and Reid
In his book The Sand Reckoner, Archimedes set out to demonstrate methods for dealing mathematically with extremely large numbers, such as the number of grains of sand which would fill the universe (hence the title of his book). Of course to arrive at the largest number possible, he had to find a description of the largest theoretical universe known in which to place his grains, and for that he turned to Aristarchus. Having explained to his patron, King Gelon, that most astronomers believed the earth to be the center of the universe, around which everything else rotated, he added almost as an aside:
But Aristarchus has brought out a book consisting of certain hypotheses, wherein it appears, as a consequence of the assumptions made, that the universe is many times greater than the “universe” just mentioned. His hypotheses are that the fixed stars and the sun remain unmoved, that the earth revolves about the sun on the circumference of a circle, the sun lying in the middle of the orbit, and that the sphere of fixed stars, situated about the same centre as the sun, is so great that the circle in which he supposes the earth to revolve bears such a proportion to the distance of the fixed stars as the centre of the sphere bears to its surface.