User blog:DivineFractal X/A Summary of Googology

A Summary of Googology
You may be wondering, isn't googology just something to pass the time, something to do when you're bored and want to come up with some big numbers? Well, think again. Googology is unique because there are so many different ways to approach it, many people have developed new "notations" and even made their own versions of others'. It is a neverending quest, because someone can always come along and say "Look at my number! For sure it's larger than yours!", and this is where it all began. I'm pretty sure how googology really took off was when Graham's Number was publicized. And the most amazing part of that was that it wasn't just some random big number concoction, it actually had some use in mathematics! Something about a cube in higher dimensions; I didn't really research it that much. But it was cool because people finally started looking into this topic, they wanted to find out how large Ronald's legendary G was for themselves!

So, is googology just a waste of time or what? Well, I've come to a conclusion that it's not useless, due to how important some mathematical functions are in subjects like proof theory, including ordinal analysis. The problem is, many googologists never really get into what these numbers are really related to ..... including me. BUT, there is hope. If we can all understand the fundamental principles behind all these numbers and huge calculations, we just might be able to transfer our knowledge to the other, useful side of googology. WITHOUT A DOUBT, googology and the study of functions that generate large numbers trains our brains, for sure :). It's just that sometimes when we find out about these huge numbers, we don't really feel like thinking about their real uses, rather just understanding how to reach them and appreciate their size (though you couldn't actually do that), that's all. But googology as a whole can open your minds to new concepts which could potentially help you out when solving math problems they give you in higher grades :). In fact, some famous people such as Jonathan Bowers, Sbiis Saibian, and Chris Bird have actually gained popularity and reputations as honourable googologists, showing that if you really commit to the job, you can even become known as one of googology's most dedicated contributors.

Of course, I'll introduce you to the FGH (Fast-Growing Heirarchy), Conway Chained-Arrow Notation, and Linear Array Notation, all the products of inventive googologists at work, inthe later posts, but for now, until we meet again, adios.........