Graham's Number is unimaginably huge

Graham's Number is an upper bound on a mathematical proof that I don't grasp very well, but what it's famous for is being really big. How big? You almost certainly can't imagine it. Watch the video below, but here's a motivating idea: if you tried to write the number as a "tower of powers" (3^3^3^3...) there wouldn't be enough atoms in the universe to write it all out.

Check out Graham himself explain how his number works. --Ryan Cooper

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.