lew (10/12/82)
That googol query reminded me of a large number notation in "The Lore of
Large Numbers by (somebody) Phillips. It is attributed there to Leo Moser.
He defines n'3=n^n ; n'4= (...((n'3)'3)...)'3 {n times} and so on.
Then 2'4 = (2'3)'3 = 4'3 = 4^4 = 256
and 2'5 = (2'4)'4 = 256'4 = (...((256'3)'3)...)'3 {256 times} = .....
He calls this a Mega and then calls 2'Mega = Moser. "The largest number
to have a special name." Indeed!
This seems like it must be related to Ackermans generalized exponential,
but I have been unable to relate it. For example, I find ack(2,2,n)=4,
not matter how high the generalization. This is using:
ack(a,b,0) = a^b (I cut it off here so I could extend further)
ack(a,1,n) = a
ack(a,b,n) = ack(a,ack(a,b-1,n),n-1)
I did this a while ago using "bc".
Is this right? Can anybody write a Mega or a Moser in terms of
Ackerman's generalized exponential?
Lew Mammel, Jr. ihuxv!lew