A Game For Making Big, Big, Big Numbers With Remarkable Ease

Maxwell Akin
4 min readMay 9, 2024

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Our intention, with this essay, is clarifying.

Clarifying what?

A game that you can play to create big numbers with remarkable ease.

Just what the title says.

Right before we dive in, though, there is one thing to note.

Our “big numbers” are big.

No, not just “big.” But, “big, big.”

Or, well, something like that.

You’ll see.

A Simple Game

To play our “Big Number Game,” you must select a number.

You can select any number.

Some of my favorite numbers are as follows:

  • 338
  • 158
  • 7
  • Graham’s Number
  • Googol
  • Googolplex
  • 888
  • 333
  • 1111
  • 1000000000000

Just for our example, we’ll select the number “338.”

Right after that, you select a process.

Your process can be anything. And, of course, there are an infinite, endless wealth of processes, functions, activities, movements — ad infinitum — that you can use.

Even though the above is true, since this is a “Big Number Game,” you should select a process that is, more often than not, associated with numbers.

Some of my favorite processes, for this game, are as follows:

  • Exponentiation
  • Pentation
  • Multiplication
  • Plexing
  • Tetration

Our game is infinitely flexible and infinitely vast; you can make new processes, select processes unrelated to mathematics, play with an infinite wealth of ideas; and so on and so forth, endlessly and infinitely; ad infinitum.

Let’s select “plexing,” for our example.

Just for clarity’s sake, plexing is when you take a number — “1,” for example — and, then, produce a new number that has that number, plus the number of zeros contained within that number, in front of it.

If you plex “1,” you get “10” and, if you plex “10,” you get “100,000,000,000.”

Right after you select your process, you must combine it with your chosen number.

Our combination leads to the following idea: 338, plexed to itself, 338 times.

Right after this combination is born, we have played, and finished, a session of our “Big Number Game.”

But, of course, that’s not all.

A Further Act Of Play

Our new number is pleasant.

If we plex 338, to itself, 338 times, we get a truly vast number that our mind cannot truly imagine.

Seriously.

Even so, though, this number is bland.

Or, if not bland, too vague.

Right now, we can combine other processes, ideas, notions — ad infinitum — with this number.

Or we can expand on it, by diving into it; expanding on its vastness, clarifying its features; ad infinitum.

Let’s do that.

To continue playing our “Big Number Game,” you can expand on your number.

You can add new elements, describe it in more detail, pair it with odd notions.

And so on and so forth, endlessly and infinitely; ad infinitum.

If we do so, then we get the following: our new number is a process, in which the number 338 is plexed to itself, 338 times, every second, across a period of 338 years.

Just to put this in perspective, the number of seconds, within 338 years is 10,659,168,000.

Or, 10.6 billion.

A single plex, of 338, leads to this number:

338,00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.

Our new number requires that you produce a number that begins with 338 and ends with the number of zeros contained within the number above.

We cannot write down this second number. Nor can we truly comprehend it.

And, in the end, that is merely the second plex, out of 10.6 billion, that this number requires.

You can further expand on this number by adding, combining, playing — ad infinitum — and, well, doing or engaging with — ad infinitum — anything that feels right to you.

If we do the above, we get the following idea: this process, of plexing leads to a number that serves as a vast, truly incomprehensible, body that contains a truly vast wealth of information, all of which is centered on, and grown from, memories and yearnings from a world that was lost to the endless flow of dream, feeling, and experience.

No, that doesn’t make much sense. But, it’s a fun, little story that suggests, and allows for, a lot.

You can dive into this story. You can expand on the number. You can combine new ideas with it. You can explore the concepts within the number. You can try to visualize the number. You can try to experience the number.

And so on and so forth, endlessly and infinitely; ad infinitum.

No matter what, there are, within this game, and within the greater world of mathematics, numbers, language — and so on and so forth, endlessly and infinitely; ad infinitum — no endings, limits, boundaries; ad infinitum.

Just to wrap this up, then, we’ll replay a phrase that we keep circling back to: and so on and so forth, endlessly and infinitely; ad infinitum.

Conclusion

Just to wrap this up, our new essay isn’t great.

But, the game is fun.

And, furthermore, it can, and will, inspire you.

Or, at least, that has been my experience.

No matter what, thank you so much for reading this essay!

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Maxwell Akin

Hey! I’m Max! I Hope You Enjoy What You’re Reading, And If You Want To Reach Me For Any Reason At All, You Can Do So At “maxwellcakin@gmail.com”.