What's the biggest number? (how to discuss) - Gifted Issues Discussion Forum

DS4 has asked this for a while now (or variations like "do numbers go on forever?) My stock answer is to ask him if he thinks there is a biggest number. If one is produced we add one (a la induction) and then presto we have a new biggest number.

Any other thoughts on this? This comes up from time to time and it is a fun thing to talk about during commute time.

Bake some apple pie (or sub in favorite dessert) and give him the smallest piece.

Probably a bit more than you were thinking but my kids LOVE Vi Hart -

If that is a bit much try our gateway to Vi Hart for the little kids (DD giggled her head off at 4 over this one) -

or

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaNzoFtkQ7rbt5ac9qdi76iNKuqZWQkB3

Hexaflexagons have occupied hours in planes, trains and automobiles. Even our less geeky friends have embraced them.

DS's favorite thing in kindergarten was infinity and he was very annoyed that the teachers kept thinking his 8's were wrong to be sideways.... Probably should have clued us in to his giftedness but we were a little slow

*I* loved the picture book "The cat in Numberland" by Ivar Ekeland when my kids were little. It gets at some deep concepts in a visual, fun way. It may be out of print and hard (expensive) to buy, but check your library. Here's the description from Amazon:

Quote

At Mr. and Mrs. Hilbert's Hotel Infinity, the resident cat is puzzled. The hotel is fully booked -- the rooms are full of Numbers, both Odds and Evens -- yet guests continue to arrive. When Zero shows up, there's a massive room switching, and he stays, even though Mr. Hilbert insists he's not really a Number. Then the Letters appear and everyone still has a room, even though no Numbers have left. No matter how many guests arrive or depart, the hotel accommodates them all, and is always full. But when the Fractions arrive, demanding rooms, real chaos threatens. Can an ingenious solution be found to house them all? Based on mathematician David Hilbert's famous paradox of the Grand Hotel, "The Cat in Numberland offers a refreshingly clear explanation of infinity for readers of all ages.

I don't think these two books exactly explain the largest number question. But they are good for young kids who are fascinated by math concepts.

How Much is a Million
http://www.amazon.com/Million-Anniversary-Edition-Reading-Rainbow/dp/0688099335

and by the same author
G is for Google
http://www.amazon.com/G-Googol-Math-Alphabet-Book/dp/1883672589/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

My DS is obsessed with a Googolplex. He loves to think about this number and we talk about it being the largest number defined by humans.

We also loved the G is for Googol book.

Here's another math kids book they loved -
http://www.amazon.com/One-Grain-Of-Rice-Mathematical/dp/059093998X

Not the biggest number, but some fun thoughts on how big is "big". If you google "how big is a googolplex", you'll find a wealth of grad students avoiding their thesis by demonstrating the size of a googolplex in oh so many ways. Another fun video is

, which provides an idea of what numbers look like in real life as they increase/ decrease by a factor of 10.

Read chapter 1 of The Number Devil...

Another vote for the Number Devil - my DD loved that book and recently reread it.

My son also went through a fascination with really big numbers when he was four. My husband is a mathematician and they had a lot of fun discussing this. Our favorite book on the subject is Really Big Numbers- the first book for kids published by the American Mathematical Society.

http://www.amazon.com/Really-Number...56231&sr=8-1&keywords=really+big+numbers

I can't recommend this book highly enough. My son learned about combinatorics, exponential notation and graph theory all from this book. It touches on so many fascinating concepts and kids - and adults- with many levels of math literacy can all appreciate it.

when I'm feeling snarky I go with infinity

This reminds me of an assessment at a private school that my son attended a few months ago. The teacher asked him to write his numbers up to 10. My son said he thought that was boring and he'd rather write a really big number, like googolplex. When the teacher admitted he didn't know what a googolplex was, my son said, "You are a teacher, aren't you? What kind of school is this, where the teachers don't even know about googoplexes?" He wasn't admitted. Sigh.

Playing with infinite is loads of fun. Especially after addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are understood conceptually.

Originally Posted by Lepa

My son also went through a fascination with really big numbers when he was four. My husband is a mathematician and they had a lot of fun discussing this. Our favorite book on the subject is Really Big Numbers- the first book for kids published by the American Mathematical Society.

http://www.amazon.com/Really-Number...56231&sr=8-1&keywords=really+big+numbers

I can't recommend this book highly enough. My son learned about combinatorics, exponential notation and graph theory all from this book. It touches on so many fascinating concepts and kids - and adults- with many levels of math literacy can all appreciate it.

Thats great to hear. DS8 loves his "You Can Count on Monsters" Book which is on multiplication, factoring, and primes(which he first read around age 6). The library doesn't have the newer book and I've been too cheap to spend the money for it new. Your review is pushing me over the edge...

@Raptor dad- My son loves "You Can Count on Monsters" but we think the Really Big Numbers is so much better! Let me know what you think if you end up getting it.