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Jul 4, 2010 at 15:39 comment added Gabriel Benamy I can't remember where (probably tvtropes), but when reading something about the Ackermann numbers (1 ^ 1, 2 ^^ 2, 3 ^^^ 3, etc), which are related to the Ackermann function, the joke was "it's always weird when looking at a sequence of numbers that goes: 1, 4, too big to count."
Jul 1, 2010 at 23:20 comment added The Mathemagician @Joel I HATE the Ackermann function-I lost a whole letter grade on my set theory final because I couldn't construct the damn thing.
Apr 23, 2010 at 12:21 comment added Joel David Hamkins Ketil, yes, perhaps I agree. But what is strangely wonderful about it is that the recursive definition A(n+1,m+1)=A(n,A(n+1,m)) is so simple, and yet leads immediately to such incomprehensible growth.
Apr 23, 2010 at 12:13 comment added Ketil Tveiten I never really thought of the Ackermann function as being strange, only big. But maybe that's just me.
Apr 22, 2010 at 19:14 history answered Joel David Hamkins CC BY-SA 2.5