One In A Googol vs One In A Googolplex

[ungar2000]

B to all
not even close to using C

[Zeno]

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A googol is ten to the hundredth power. In other words one followed by one hundred zeroes.

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Just to give a gut feel to the size of this lowly number titled a googol, rough estimates as to the number of atoms in the universe are much less than a googol. Estimates usually range near 10^80.

A copy and paste of one such estimate is below just for fun:

Atoms in the Universe

Estimates the the number of atoms in our galaxy to be in the area of 10^68 and, if dark and exotic matter are considered, then their numbers are possibly close to 10^69.

It is stated that there is a wide range of estimates given for the number of galaxies in the universe. Some put the number in the very low 100 billions, others bring it much closer to the one trillion mark.

The size of other galaxies range from one million to hundreds of billions of stars. The mass of some of the largest galaxies is trillions of times the mass of our sun. Again, it is supposed that much of this mass consists of dark and exotic matter.

If we consider our galaxy to be of average size, and use the highest estimates for both the number of atoms in our galaxy and the total number of galaxies, then the universe would contain about one trillion times the number of atoms as our galaxy. Since our galaxy probably has no more than 10^69 atoms, this would mean that at most the universe contains 10^69 x 10^12 atoms in all. This works out to be just under 10^81.

If we use lower estimates for the number of atoms in our galaxy and total number of galaxies, then the total number of atoms would be as much as 20 times less, or within the area of 10^79.

Hence, "atoms in the universe" belongs on this page which spans from 10^78 to just under 10^81.

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Most calculations are based on the above assumptions with slighty different numbers given but the above is a reasonable representation of the process.

Here is web page of interest:

Is there a googol of anything

-Zeno

[Zeno]

For the math inclined on the forum, here are 236 papes of interesting stuff related, I think, to this thread.

Algorithmic Information Theory

-Zeno

[tomb8663]

I am not good at math but if you ask me the probability of any of these events happening are 0%. Since C is the closest to 0% I would pick C for all.

[Eihli]

1. C
2. C
3. C
4. C
5. C
6. C

[ill rich]

what is the chance of winning a googolplex digit lottery 100 times in a row?

[T_Nasty]

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C on all. That is, basically as close to impossible as can be.

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i thought the same thing but i'd go with B on all.

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That's what I'm going with as well now.

Very interesting exercise, my gut feelings were way off.

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I did the same thing. I cant quite wrap my mind around how big there numbers are.

Is there any event that would be a C? Obviously you can just do some simple number crunching and find how many times in a row you'd have to win the lottery for it to be a C.

Besides stringing together a chain of events, Is there any one single event that could be considered a C?

Here are some of the most unlikely events I could think of. It's difficult to put numbers on these, but would you consider any of them C's?

New born ostrich solves some unsolved math problem, energy crisis, etc...

Infant runs a mile in <1 second.

Man jumps from the earth to the sun.

The universe disappears on on January 27, 2009 at 12:59 AM EST.

[rebuyboy]

question: is there anything with a probability of happening less than 1/graham's number.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham's_number

[BillNye]

Disclaimer: I'd be happy to get 2/5

1. The chances that you will win the next 100 lotteries in a row.

C

2. The chances that a specific player will hit 500 homeruns this year, assuming everything is random and he normally hits 10.

B (dont follow Baseball that much tho)

3. Your 90 year old grandmother's next 50 bowling games are 300.

A


4. Every single time a poker machine is played for the next million years it will deal a pat Royal Flush.

C (if by poker machine, u mean handheld pkr, online pkr, etc). not sure what you mean tho

5. Your pet parrot, who has been taught to randomly speak every individual sound in the English language, randomly recites Hamlet.

A

6. All players who are capable of reaching the cup from outside the green always sink their chip or drive and never have to put again for the next 50 years.

Really no clue on this one, I'll guess B.


Edit: After thinking about it I'd guess there are no C's. Where are the results?

Btw: instead we should rank these most likely, to least likely, would be very interesting.

[livin_a_lie]

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question: is there anything with a probability of happening less than 1/graham's number.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham's_number

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That's insane.

this is a good page for those of that are math challenged