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==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
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{{incomplete|Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
 
This comic shows what the way you write large numbers says about you. Different people use different methods to express large numbers. And this comic claims it can tell something about you based on the way you format large numbers. In this way, the comic is similar in idea to [[977: Map Projections]], where it was your choice of map projections that could tell something about you.
 
This comic shows what the way you write large numbers says about you. Different people use different methods to express large numbers. And this comic claims it can tell something about you based on the way you format large numbers. In this way, the comic is similar in idea to [[977: Map Projections]], where it was your choice of map projections that could tell something about you.
  
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:The distance of Jupiter from Earth is currently 640,084,108 kilometers, equivalent to 4.278698 Astronomical Units. Light takes 35 minutes and 35.0908 seconds to travel from Jupiter and arrive on Earth.
 
:The distance of Jupiter from Earth is currently 640,084,108 kilometers, equivalent to 4.278698 Astronomical Units. Light takes 35 minutes and 35.0908 seconds to travel from Jupiter and arrive on Earth.
  
64,008,410,800,000 cm / 2.54 cm/inches = 25,200,161,732,283 inches - much less than the number used in the comic. But Jupiter's distance to Earth changes quite quickly, and was decreasing at the time of the release of the comic.  
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64,008,410,800,000 cm / 2.54 inches/cm = 25,200,161,732,283 inches - much less than the number used in the comic. But Jupiter's distance to Earth changes quite quickly, and was decreasing at the time of the release of the comic.  
  
According to a graph of the distance as a function of time on The Sky Live, the distance on the release day was 643.1 million km. This will give 25.3*10<sup>13</sup> which the used number will round to.  
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According to a graph of the distance as a function of time on The Sky Live, the distance on the release day was 643,1 million km. This will give 25,3<sup>13</sup> which the used number will round to.  
  
The used number 25,259,974,097,204 is equivalent to 641.6 million km. On June 13th the distance is given as 641.7 million km in the graph on The Sky Live, very close to the number used. As this was the day after the release of this comic, it seems like [[Randall]] used a different distance than the exact one for the release day. He may have also used an average for June which would be 642 million km based on the average of the distance on June and July 1st.
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The used number 25,259,974,097,204 is equivalent to 641,6 million km. On June 13th the distance is given as 641,7 million km in the graph on The Sky Live, very close to the number used. As this was the day after the release of this comic, it seems like [[Randall]] used a different distance than the exact one for the release day. He may have also used an average for June which would be 642 million km based on the average of the distance on June and July 1st.
  
 
==Table of types==
 
==Table of types==
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| 25,259,974,097,204
 
| 25,259,974,097,204
 
| Normal Person
 
| Normal Person
| This is the full number, 25259974097204, written out in the normal fashion, with commas to indicate powers of 1000. Although writing out the number in full is indeed a common action for normal people, the specific comma convention depicted here is only considered normal in the anglophone world; conventions for writing large numbers in full vary considerably across cultures. For example, in countries where the period is used as a {{w|decimal separator}} (including Europe outside the UK), one would write the number as 25.259.974.097.204 (or 25'259'974'097'204 in Switzerland, or 25 259 974 097 204 in Poland, France and Estonia). Under the {{w|Indian numbering system}}, this number would be written as 2,52,59,97,40,97,204 or “two nil, fifty-two kharab, fifty-nine arab, ninety-seven crore, forty lakh, ninety-seven thousand, two hundred and four.
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| This is the full number, 25259974097204, written out in the normal fashion, with commas to indicate powers of 1000. Although writing out the number in full is indeed a common action for normal people, the specific comma convention depicted here is only considered normal in the Anglo-Saxon world; conventions for writing large numbers in full vary considerably across cultures. For example, in countries where the period is used as a {{w|decimal separator}} (including Europe outside the UK), one would write the number as 25.259.974.097.204 (or 25'259'974'097'204 in Switzerland, or 25 259 974 097 204 in Poland, France and Estonia). Under the {{w|Indian numbering system}}, this number would be written as 25,25,997,40,97,204.  
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 25 Trillion
 
| 25 Trillion
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As well as 'traditionalist' British use, the long scale is widely used in the non-Anglophone world, in local language versions, though while the British system tended to infill n-and-a-half powers of the million with the term "thousand n-illion", the suffix "-illi''ard''", or equivalent, is often used for the thousands multiple directly atop the respective "-illion" point.
 
As well as 'traditionalist' British use, the long scale is widely used in the non-Anglophone world, in local language versions, though while the British system tended to infill n-and-a-half powers of the million with the term "thousand n-illion", the suffix "-illi''ard''", or equivalent, is often used for the thousands multiple directly atop the respective "-illion" point.
 
|-
 
|-
|2.526×10<sup>13</sup>
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|2.526x10<sup>13</sup>
 
|Scientist
 
|Scientist
 
|This number is formatted in {{w|scientific notation}}, using the exponent 10<sup>13</sup>.
 
|This number is formatted in {{w|scientific notation}}, using the exponent 10<sup>13</sup>.
 
|-
 
|-
| 2.525997×10<sup>13</sup>
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| 2.525997x10<sup>13</sup>
 
| Scientist trying to avoid rounding up
 
| Scientist trying to avoid rounding up
 
| Using as many decimal places as necessary until hitting a digit (0-4) that results in rounding down, even if it goes against the common scientific practice of reporting the correct amount of "significant figures". [[:File:large number formats.png|A previous version of the comic]] had a typo (the number was ''2.5997x10<sup>13</sup>''), but Randall updated the comic.
 
| Using as many decimal places as necessary until hitting a digit (0-4) that results in rounding down, even if it goes against the common scientific practice of reporting the correct amount of "significant figures". [[:File:large number formats.png|A previous version of the comic]] had a typo (the number was ''2.5997x10<sup>13</sup>''), but Randall updated the comic.
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| {∅,{∅},{∅,{∅}},{∅,{∅},{...
 
| {∅,{∅},{∅,{∅}},{∅,{∅},{...
 
| Set theorist
 
| Set theorist
| The natural numbers can be constructed in a {{w|set theory}} in various ways. In the most common of these, the {{w|Natural_number#Von_Neumann_ordinals|Von Neumann ordinals}}, the natural numbers are defined recursively by letting 0 = ∅ (the {{w|empty set}}), and ''n'' + 1 = ''n'' ∪ {''n''}. So, every natural number ''n'' is the set of all natural numbers less than ''n'', and since 0 is defined as the empty set, all numbers are nested sets of empty sets. Note that writing out a number in this form requires an exponential number of characters - that is, ''n'' + 1 requires over twice the characters as ''n'' does to write out. Thus, this method could not be finished, as it would require more data to be stored than there is matter in the universe to store it.
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| In {{w|Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory}}, the natural numbers are defined recursively by letting 0 = ∅ (the {{w|empty set}}), and ''n'' + 1 = ''n'' ∪ {''n''}. So, every natural number ''n'' is the set of all natural numbers less than ''n'', and since 0 is defined as the empty set, all numbers are nested sets of empty sets. Note that writing out a number in this form requires an exponential number of characters - that is, ''n'' + 1 requires over twice the characters as ''n'' does to write out. Thus, this method could not be finished, as it would require more data to be stored than there is matter in the universe to store it.
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1,262,998,704,860 score and four
 
| 1,262,998,704,860 score and four
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| 10^13.4024 ''(title text)''
 
| 10^13.4024 ''(title text)''
 
| A person who has come back to numbers after a journey deep into some random theoretical field
 
| A person who has come back to numbers after a journey deep into some random theoretical field
| In some fields of mathematics, especially those dealing with very {{w|large numbers}}, numbers are sometimes represented by raising ten (or some other convenient base) to an oddly precise power, to facilitate comparison of their magnitudes without filling up pages upon pages of digits.  An example of this is {{w|Skewes's number}}, which is formally calculated to be ''e''<sup>''e''<sup>''e''<sup>79</sup></sup></sup>, but is more commonly approximated as 10<sup>10<sup>10<sup>34</sup></sup></sup>. 13.4024 is a rounded version of the {{w|common logarithm}} of 25,259,974,097,204 (log<sub>10</sub> 25,259,974,097,204 = 13.4024329009); thus, this "format" is still mathematically correct, but uncommon. However, only by using many more digits will the result get close enough to be rounded to the original number 10^13.40243290087302 = 25,259,974,097,203.5, which would round up to the correct number. The number from the title text, 10^13.4024 = 25,258,060,548,319.6, differs from the original number by over a billion.
+
| In some fields of mathematics, especially those dealing with very {{w|large numbers}}, numbers are sometimes represented by raising ten (or some other convenient base) to an oddly precise power, to facilitate comparison of their magnitudes without filling up pages upon pages of digits.  An example of this is {{w|Skewes's number}}, which is formally calculated to be ''e''<sup>''e''<sup>''e''<sup>79</sup></sup></sup>, but is more commonly approximated as 10<sup>10<sup>10<sup>34</sup></sup></sup>. 13.4024 is a rounded version of the {{w|common logarithm}} of 25,259,974,097,204 (log<sub>10</sub> 25,259,974,097,204 = 13.4024329009); thus, this "format" is still mathematically correct, but uncommon. However, only by using many more digits will the result get close enough to be rounded to the original number 10^13.40243290087302 = 25,259,974,097,203.5, which would round up to the correct number. This number 10^13.4024 = 25,258,060,548,319.6 deviating almost 2 billion from the correct number
 
|}
 
|}
  
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[[Category:Science]]
 
[[Category:Science]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]
[[Category:Comics edited after their publication]]
 

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