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Mathematician Richard Elwes discusses humanity's long-time fascination with ginormous numbers—and what this obsession reveals about us.
One subway ride in NYC costs $3. Gizmodo has been around for 24 years. The Sun is just one of some several hundred billion stars in the Milky Way, which is also just one of some trillions of galaxies in the universe. In science, a hypothesis is better tested if it’s weathered a good number of empirical studies. The equations describing how the world works essentially place one number in relation to another.
Our reality is deeply steeped in numbers—a realization discussed at length (no pun intended) in Huge Numbers: A Story of Counting Ambitiously, from 4 1/2 to Fish 7, by Richard Elwes. The book discusses not only incomprehensibly large numbers but also numbers that sound small but represent incomprehensibly large concepts. Overall, the story recounts (again, no pun intended) the history of humanity’s fascination with numbers—particularly huge ones—and how this enchantment drives our ongoing quest to understand the universe.
Richard Elwes is a mathematician at the University of Leeds in the U.K., and an active science communicator, including as a presenter on the YouTube channel Numberphile. Gizmodo spoke to Elwes about the new book, as well as the unique humanity behind the way we understand and work with numbers. The following conversation has been edited for grammar and clarity.
gizmodo.com
One subway ride in NYC costs $3. Gizmodo has been around for 24 years. The Sun is just one of some several hundred billion stars in the Milky Way, which is also just one of some trillions of galaxies in the universe. In science, a hypothesis is better tested if it’s weathered a good number of empirical studies. The equations describing how the world works essentially place one number in relation to another.
Our reality is deeply steeped in numbers—a realization discussed at length (no pun intended) in Huge Numbers: A Story of Counting Ambitiously, from 4 1/2 to Fish 7, by Richard Elwes. The book discusses not only incomprehensibly large numbers but also numbers that sound small but represent incomprehensibly large concepts. Overall, the story recounts (again, no pun intended) the history of humanity’s fascination with numbers—particularly huge ones—and how this enchantment drives our ongoing quest to understand the universe.
Richard Elwes is a mathematician at the University of Leeds in the U.K., and an active science communicator, including as a presenter on the YouTube channel Numberphile. Gizmodo spoke to Elwes about the new book, as well as the unique humanity behind the way we understand and work with numbers. The following conversation has been edited for grammar and clarity.
Why Humans Are Obsessed With Numbers Too Big to Understand
Mathematician Richard Elwes discusses humanity's long-time fascination with ginormous numbers—and what this obsession reveals about us.
gizmodo.com
