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Comprehending Large Numbers — Public Lecture

Comprehending Large Numbers — Public Lecture

Start Date

January 29, 2026

End Date

January 29, 2026

Contact Info

admin.research.msi@anu.edu.au

Registration

Open

Australian National University crest
  • Date/time: 29 Jan 2026, 5:30pm – 6:30pm
  • Speaker: Ian Le (Australian National University)
  • Location: Seminar Room 1.33 & 1.37
    Hanna Neumann Building #145, Science Road
    The Australian National University, Canberra
  • Event series: Friends & alumni program

Abstract

What is the largest number you can think of? By the end of this lecture, you’ll be able to think of numbers far larger than any you’ve thought of before. We will take a journey through mathematics and encounter some of the largest numbers mathematicians have contemplated. At first, you might not think there’s much substantive mathematics behind enormous numbers. But the problem of how to precisely write down a very large number raises deep questions. We will enter the realm of meta-mathematics — recursion, computability, complexity — and discover that the question of largeness offers us a way to probe the limits of mathematical understanding.

Register: https://events.humanitix.com/comprehending-large-numbers