Numbers and mortals

Are there numbers that can’t be said?
My first answer was: “yes, a number with so many digits in a given base that a whole life can’t be enough to say it”.

I started trying to find an answer to this question thinking back to the old short story “The Nine Billion Names of God” written by Arthur C. Clarke.

Do you know another element of that set of numbers? A not trivial example would be appreciated. :)

Last update: 2008-05-20

This entry was written by Carlo, posted on July 14, 2007 at 11:25 am, filed under English and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

2 Comments

  1. BestKevin
    Posted July 14, 2007 at 2:29 pm | Permalink

    Well… of course… there is the (in)famous 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 :)
    it’s the patented number that can’t be said ’cause it’s copyrighted by HD-DVD producers and it can crack HD-DVD :)
    ssshh…you can’t say to anyone ok? :)

  2. Carlo
    Posted July 15, 2007 at 10:34 am | Permalink

    <p>Even though the number that you suggest is not lethal, it is a correct answer to my question! :)</p>

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