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It can be thought of as a number that is bigger than any other conceivable or inconceivable quantity, either finite or transfinite. Cantor linked the absolute infinite with God , [ 1 ] [ 2 ] : 175 [ 3 ] : 556 and believed that it had various mathematical properties, including the reflection principle : every property of the absolute infinite is ...
Many possible bounded, flat possibilities also exist for three-dimensional space. [55] The concept of infinity also extends to the multiverse hypothesis, which, when explained by astrophysicists such as Michio Kaku, posits that there are an infinite number and variety of universes. [56]
Graham's number was used by Graham in conversations with popular science writer Martin Gardner as a simplified explanation of the upper bounds of the problem he was working on. In 1977, Gardner described the number in Scientific American, introducing it to the general public. At the time of its introduction, it was the largest specific positive ...
The aleph numbers differ from the infinity commonly found in algebra and calculus, in that the alephs measure the sizes of sets, while infinity is commonly defined either as an extreme limit of the real number line (applied to a function or sequence that "diverges to infinity" or "increases without bound"), or as an extreme point of the ...
It is always possible to think of a larger number: for the number of times a magnitude can be bisected is infinite. Hence the infinite is potential, never actual; the number of parts that can be taken always surpasses any assigned number.
Actual infinity is completed and definite, and consists of infinitely many elements. Potential infinity is never complete: elements can be always added, but never infinitely many. "For generally the infinite has this mode of existence: one thing is always being taken after another, and each thing that is taken is always finite, but always ...
Kasner used it to illustrate the difference between an unimaginably large number and infinity, and in this role it is sometimes used in teaching mathematics. To put in perspective the size of a googol, the mass of an electron, just under 10 −30 kg, can be compared to the mass of the visible universe, estimated at between 10 50 and 10 60 kg. [ 5 ]
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; Largest known prime number, for the largest known primes; Dirac large numbers hypothesis, for cosmology.