1.1
1.1
The Nature of Number
"I have this vision of hoards of shadowy numbers lurking out there in the dark, beyond the small sphere of light cast by the candle of reason. They are whispering to each other; plotting who knows what. Perhaps they don't like us very much for capturing their smaller brethren with our minds. Or perhaps they just live uniquely numberish lifestyles, out there beyond our ken."
-- Douglas Reay
Welcome to the Limitless World of Large Numbers! In this very first chapter we consider the question "what is number"? We will then develop an intuitive definition of the counting numbers. Finally we explore how easy it is to create really large numbers even from a few simple ideas.
1.1.1 - Welcome to the Numberscape
Welcome to the Limitless World of Large Numbers
In this article we explore our innate ability to perceive "muchness".
1.1.3 - A Definition of The Counting Numbers
Using our intuition we establish a conceptual definition for the counting numbers.
1.1.4 - Jacob's Ladder - Reaching for the Infinite
With our definition of number we make our first attempt to define larger and larger numbers. How far can we get with only the most basic methods and reasoning ?