I once read the following story about a Russian mathematician. I can’t find the source right now.
Cast: Russian mathematician RM, other guy OG
RM: “Truly large numbers don’t really exist in the same sense that small ones do.”
OG: “That’s ridiculous. Consider the powers of two. Does 2ˆ1 exist?”″
RM: “Yes.”
OG: “OK, does 2ˆ2 exist?”
RM: ”.Yes.”
OG: “So you’d agree that 2ˆ3 exists?”
RM: ”...Yes.”
OG: “How about 2ˆ4?”
RM: ”.......Yes.”
OG: “So this is silly. Where would you ever draw the boundary?”
RM: ”..............................................................................................................................................”
I once read the following story about a Russian mathematician. I can’t find the source right now.
Cast: Russian mathematician RM, other guy OG
RM: “Truly large numbers don’t really exist in the same sense that small ones do.”
OG: “That’s ridiculous. Consider the powers of two. Does 2ˆ1 exist?”″
RM: “Yes.”
OG: “OK, does 2ˆ2 exist?”
RM: ”.Yes.”
OG: “So you’d agree that 2ˆ3 exists?”
RM: ”...Yes.”
OG: “How about 2ˆ4?”
RM: ”.......Yes.”
OG: “So this is silly. Where would you ever draw the boundary?”
RM: ”..............................................................................................................................................”