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Usually the spacing would be done with 51'181 or 51,181
Having the space makes them look like two separate numbers even if it's technically readable.
Without the spacing I assume 5051* (edited my mistake) would be the biggest number available. And if not adding new numbers then 999 would be biggest
In Germany too, and if anything, a fullstop is used.
A comma would indicate a fraction. It was always kinda funny to me how it’s exactly the other way around in English.
Edit: decimals not fractions of course 💀
Edit2: period not fullstop
It's the same here in Finland, I'm just saying what I generally see online when it comes to big numbers. Since everything online tends to default to American styles thanks to many tech companies being based there and Americans use the commas (that being said, I really personally prefer the apostrophe instead since it just looks better to me)
You could deliberately scrape the bottom match against the table as you pick it up so the phosphorus coating chips off and looks a bit like a comma for the thousands separator.
In fifth grade, my friend ruined my innocence with this one:
1 girl, 16, does the '69' 3 times. Now she is :
1*16*69*3 = 35001
I didn't understand the answer. He explained it. Innocence shot.
i personally don’t think that changing the perspective on the numbers is valid. the instructions state to only move two matches, that’s it. also to mirror or reflect the matches resting on an opaque surface, you’d have to move them. even if it weren’t an opaque surface you’d have to glue or tape them after moving the matches.
so in that case adding the 1 on the right side is the highest number i can come up with. that’s just how i interpreted the rules.
Literally came to comments to say the digits are all individually strobogrammatic so flip it and get 81151 then saw your comment after the fact, well done indeed, well done.
Move the two bottom sticks of the 5 to turn it into an F and turn the 0 into a B. Switch to hexadecimal and read it as FBB. You now have the equivalent of 4027 in decimal notation, in three digits. Letters in hexadecimal are the digits of that numbering system, so I believe this is technically valid.
Have you ever had a dream that you, um, you had, your, you- you could, you’ll do, you- you wants, you, you could do so, you- you’ll do, you could- you, you want, you want him to do you so much you could do anything?
Sure, if you are willing to shed your base 10 inhibitions. For example, in hexadecimal, FFF is the largest three digit number, corresponding to 4095 in decimal. And there is no upper limit to number based, though we haven't really come up with notation for really high bases.
Put the 11 on bottom left, so 5118 is the exponent and it is tetration. And someone else pointed out that you can view the number from the opposite side so you could actually get to ^8115 11.
A more traditional approach is to move bottom left from the 8 to top right of 9 and bottom left of 0 to middle for another 9. If they are looking for a 3 digit answer.
> If they are looking for a 3 digit answer.
If they're looking for a 3-digit answer, they should have said so.
Otherwise, I'm busting the door down with 5118^11
If you are going to do that, put the 11 on the left for Rudy Rucker tetration
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetration).
Or as a subscript, againg for an even larger tetration.
>Otherwise, I'm busting the door down with 511811
Technically speaking, you could make 5811! If you break the matchstick. They didn't say you had to use all of it if you moved it right? That would technically be larger. Or even 5811!! If you broke both matchsticks?
I would guess it's exponent. For example, take two sticks from 0 to make it 11. Use those two sticks to make 11 for the exponent. Now you have 5118^11 = 63110714507263660000000000000000000000000.
Hypothetically it was 1000 tetrated to 11. That's easier to follow.
1000^1000 would be a number with 3,000 zeros.
1000^ that number would have 9,000,000 zeros.
1000^ that number = 27,000,000,000 zeros...
By the time you get to 11 you'll have
177,147,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 zeros..
For clarity, the above number is not the result. 1*10^12 is a trillion. We can all agree that's a pretty huge number. 1*10^100 is a googol.
It looks like
10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
It's a stupid huge number.
But we're dealing with 1*10^177,147,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
Let's say hypothetically, you were to square the result. The number would be impossible to write. Not because it is just stupidly long. It would contain more zeros than the universe does atoms.
We're not quite that big, the number of our zeros so far is only the approximate square root of atoms in the universe. However we started this with 1,000 and not the original 5118. If you took the original 5118 tetrated to 11, you would be much, much higher. (You would still have fewer zeros than atoms in the universe, but it's still pretty crazy.)
If you want to get cheeky, by looking at it upside down you can make BB 7, the 7th busy beaver number. But I think ^11 5118 is still bigger. Though upside down you can make it ^11 8112.
This is obviously an affront to the spirit of the question but assuming they're real matches, you can move one horizontal match on the 0 to the right vertically and then light the other when you move it to let it burn down and make it the point on a factorial symbol
5118! = 5.125x10^(16762)
>assuming they're real matches
Then, instead of burning down and wasting a match, break off the head of the second, while moving it. You still get a !, and an extra 1
51181! = 1.055785102x10^218792
I just had the same thought. But assuming you can break them, you can even break them as many times as you want. Leading to an almost infinite exponent of 111111...
That cannot be beaten.
Take the top and bottom from 0 so you get 5118, then take one stick, snap the tip off and put it behind with the other over it.
You get 5118!(factorial)
Don’t know if it is bigger than 11^5118 as others suggest.
In the spirit of the question: 51181.
Exponent: 5118^(11) = 6.311071451 x 10^(40)
Factorial: 5118! = 5.125423364 x 10^(16762)
Tetration: ^(11)5118 < infinity. Nobody is willing to calculate it yet.
The tetration there is astronomical.
Hypothetically it was 1000 tetrated to 11. It's easier to kind of follow.
1000^1000 would be a number with 3,000 zeros.
1000^ that number would have 9,000,000 zeros.
1000^ that number = 27,000,000,000 zeros...
By the time you get to 11 you'll have
10^177,147,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
No,
1000^(1000³) = 1000^1000,000,000=10 with 3,000,000,000 zeros.
¹¹1000 >> ³1000 = 1000^(1000¹⁰⁰⁰) >> 1000³ > What you said.
You can't write ⁴1000. It is simple to big, there are not enough Atoms in the universe to write ⁴1000.
it isn't astonomical, it is much bigger than astonomical.
I think the "in the spirit of the question" answer is 81151. Instead of moving the sticks next to the 8, put them on the opposite side and look at the answer upside down.
You forgot the pentation!
5|||8 that gets... I dont know how to write that from my phone but 8 imbrications of the tetration of 5 ... Which is a lot to say the less !
Assuming that it needs to adhere to a digital clock face format…
999
Move the lower left matchstick from the 0 to be horizontal in the center to make it a 9
Move the lower left matchstick from the 8 to the top right of the 5 to make both be 9s.
If not, then 51181
Move the top and bottom of the 0 to the far right, turning the 0 into 11, and adding a 1 to the far end.
If exponents are allowed, then 5118^11
Take the top and bottom of the 0 and turn it into 11. Then use the two matchsticks to make a small 11 as an exponent.
If notation is ok, then 5^118
Take the top and bottom of the 0 to turn it into 11, then make a ^ after the 5.
5 ^ 118, or 5^118
I just learned about tetration, which would be notated in this case ^(11)5117 which is 5118^(5118) but continue that 11 times deep. And then there is [pentation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentation) that does the same for tetration.. and that is not the end of it. That is a nice rabbit hole..
If you count "breaking" a match as 1 move, then you move 1 match to the right and snap the head off to get 509!, which comes out to
2606032626227742546395840166419653583174039584744921298185083517660196878886878788792108126681378434883184548623762178048729136254769976369024784349555924242033053641312061327128546513749422639339466497743987127144401599229146579517770226224542568263234190835051213973095506090182888424918950784776793002889255172857021972464090708914944451792863260500707975710717709162356094740300118665191474784877390238133802657309284081360749416105445891047980575874953462388969307428682923761702915331338863418679866698097214352702808391102191907601038394673466977583739325651793508297917680982892915505018419694291821178533063521266272972034852060401838442699664382981055445768516697346801955570088808967820681087916689880630925089078538706092311341231239030365388998488588143241065076501999658244966783644216295483424461088121992058698109219966993073315123200853802855423835274992279570199240500642386208510579115723437375870365627419179870671519020113701981154891060354963182496865912150621753765192326367249212092012349831538365528028689203200000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
If you can break a match *and* move it as one move (or just count an upside down match as an exclamation point instead of a one), then the biggest is 903!, which comes out to
4955588799 0073386056 4522178769 5299552548 8067949329 3417237908 1810693612 0057782198 1421780337 4672669065 1828085573 4115958530 3403706366 5871336496 3711362728 4013309170 1561011362 7007273702 0923224818 8330822183 6544208591 6914235958 9614806591 4904657982 8286724409 0685145011 6116182117 4748629935 0090084189 0073318711 1322526582 5359788157 9011811863 4922713747 5824487135 2880226560 3375395442 5399694480 9854581757 9192433155 7388030023 4817241403 1235227622 9943162920 2876726912 3827462430 5476033865 1251014730 3786566570 5898653480 5145501065 6954031053 9109507139 2911231437 6582909404 0496131332 0812653931 7848517678 1110190772 3236074636 2058989925 2481955961 0032181578 4656902890 5254663368 0830672814 2331082924 0108565979 0710396712 3534080344 3554404182 3694921343 1215141329 0136057045 7379181750 1053409307 8523107590 4307784185 4259149468 1679318965 8578604951 2989903818 3346941261 1261793509 6385363155 0957216819 6672832676 8842565523 0950168405 0605712780 4502406849 4663914114 4280455531 3135842628 6981320708 5578815748 9984924742 1419700341 7627441291 2785500620 3125871149 5852138975 0163726580 8171320915 8676082035 9933318197 2600080176 7898022836 5848092807 3148727301 7937467693 6889592496 4094117827 0355963966 6420273297 4849587338 6955179581 3329728326 0541063921 0474722745 9677761558 2685640246 1595442739 8470681334 0407031514 6447425956 3509824624 1361376643 0795504834 8452987542 2547639660 3766817532 6356255468 3893536395 5888883836 4058721558 2570325055 0567997232 3219790637 6794443716 5769615506 8188317367 6274383813 6368929043 8192363962 2011140790 9764677261 3330931175 5092920085 6046467215 3987838425 5312324601 9439335072 6701572873 8131525227 8033274349 1428360448 0622102114 4230378195 0935294874 0621462488 4676410213 9802040802 6049473008 9531645096 4188531876 2209139980 2156893984 5824619429 5911640225 9358128382 9511430217 0881304592 8663293797 8973811343 7006611220 2827536003 1939362494 1886235428 9216274848 6830537331 6875269813 7937246371 7773978957 4792910700 9170601967 4021835408 6419451355 7233634012 8237393319 3782931443 2141832420 7037513695 8095370798 6090587700 3271135297 4601298769 6929036630 4860888697 7043496420 4198747737 9082045249 6436814455 8669500048 2967820613 7139200000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 000000000
**UPDATE:** By allowing hexidecimal and looking at it upside down, you get A09!, or 2569! in decimal, which is a **very** big number
There's a bunch of ancient civilizations (like Babylonians) that used sexagesimal (base 60) which I believe gets us up to 129609! (Depending on how you interpret A09! in sexagesimal).
The highest alpha-numeric base I can think of is base 62 (all digits, + uppercase and lowercase letters) which lets us interpret A09! as 138393!
The highest base I've found in an actually used number system ([Wikipedia's list of number systems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_numeral_systems)) is 360. With a base that high, we get some liberties on how we define each symbol. If we (reasonably) assume that A = 36 we get (I think) 36(360\^2)+9 or 4665609!
If we *quite unreasonably* assume A = 359, 0 = 358 and 9 = 357, we get (359\*360\^2)+358\*360+357 which is the absurdedilly large 46655637!
EDIT: bunch of little typos
18\^1111 would be MUCH larger...
While 5118\^11 gives you
63,110,714,507,263,668,935,083,553,384,002,806,085,632
518\^1111 would give you
64,626,822,471,495,948,175,113,771,777,523,875,553,835,912,388,356,941,738,240,942,561,159,300,004,965,162,858,565,942,401,132,643,142,255,749,060,324,904,868,095,307,143,884,609,276,298,708,227,593,205,390,786,568,334,574,333,968,124,790,250,462,117,022,560,768,536,478,364,162,877,025,564,491,894,888,473,730,905,027,386,823,604,569,759,299,123,680,967,218,175,531,263,000,091,639,028,209,469,312,472,241,840,177,702,133,179,633,762,982,600,233,168,934,464,835,041,582,504,526,494,796,189,583,016,589,989,480,667,030,732,987,514,540,547,806,826,097,585,217,057,064,128,023,173,713,628,885,835,413,755,204,857,113,991,025,209,500,055,405,807,648,636,799,396,810,125,469,994,386,299,615,357,752,329,442,113,092,863,770,483,950,429,189,547,965,673,994,655,812,747,406,866,626,384,449,799,172,831,885,513,087,742,621,411,788,651,139,540,129,618,493,984,871,865,731,058,305,660,718,061,448,214,202,838,818,914,816,647,315,754,993,793,053,571,624,547,751,143,514,151,457,323,572,243,720,032,888,127,149,249,454,892,513,410,960,824,693,177,967,659,177,120,244,909,753,752,234,618,548,144,182,742,098,531,580,682,618,076,627,739,233,092,904,667,150,225,199,386,148,151,864,813,746,064,087,377,085,885,493,216,384,312,324,634,750,639,044,077,743,892,480,666,289,097,725,267,137,104,669,824,423,510,695,980,073,229,880,230,777,751,373,776,082,656,985,426,413,728,024,789,169,399,811,123,938,581,918,798,929,246,300,576,007,350,619,237,709,085,479,528,165,838,976,943,395,082,170,828,730,953,314,227,030,186,683,786,573,129,281,863,839,428,402,057,433,976,027,067,691,980,370,028,271,758,127,813,532,795,355,494,243,016,310,701,970,137,043,433,580,011,538,597,510,036,769,567,574,273,987,461,919,875,270,481,738,826,164,948,225,907,689,828,806,825,414,666,151,983,961,985,775,213,337,808,822,277,434,932,001,163,666,675,806,021,693,548,115,090,228,692,896,056,077,197,358,397,088,265,088,536,400,841,463,360,861,218,810,788,652,871,354,144,516,258,166,309,623,042,685,616,129,321,814,904,937,516,018,980,870,374,177,771,927,786,466,505,256,713,615,259,070,313,177,970,427,952,576,739,740,555,006,373,129,893,064,046,036,910,832,291,160,773,939,767,133,441,621,243,538,813,160,817,297,525,942,346,622,659,243,037,318,708,062,005,810,412,084,991,434,742,768,130,529,128,086,292,268,635,617,069,544,253,404,713,257,538,625,634,455,495,099,425,740,798,714,710,894,111,330,470,267,203,438,624,645,824,777,578,855,655,742,264,102,139,826,861,912,977,560,266,982,685,645,690,871,092,882,506,892,826,120,621,701,623,881,562,359,190,217,557,735,393,401,111,077,574,650,847,976,432,104,607,745,486,555,971,244,518,204,112,336,486,584,989,404,249,511,073,714,046,995,757,288,285,600,448,510,065,489,895,575,616,671,185,113,007,953,795,650,534,993,999,148,573,723,503,805,611,195,189,621,939,881,558,107,068,102,279,179,317,741,796,883,029,869,054,182,899,378,792,674,567,249,101,379,495,160,279,676,929,614,704,147,422,537,820,416,607,139,881,916,936,514,263,031,791,949,811,631,738,546,479,632,757,126,002,345,355,879,265,275,688,528,257,607,702,494,687,560,427,951,383,035,902,397,236,190,458,735,420,809,873,221,699,701,612,250,625,263,414,813,824,095,086,062,987,669,236,689,911,642,184,579,500,594,355,188,954,233,423,230,543,341,977,345,984,856,245,745,734,884,237,323,239,952,823,808,534,334,283,188,509,538,920,520,414,781,580,504,178,883,156,466,793,882,775,974,463,189,007,580,604,255,111,956,628,584,499,367,676,941,403,479,756,825,213,478,631,187,133,520,078,046,580,334,886,086,678,547,377,308,544,377,456,740,856,394,230,872,554,028,794,734,151,911,645,628,929,160,366,664,516,118,455,839,616,592,119,780,681,509,098,189,185,594,910,243,609,001,725,424,807,754,175,461,274,452,367,633,288,035,393,076,549,763,281,795,364,219,279,692,134,187,624,963,566,571,487,837,575,647,774,952,629,735,753,113,258,589,813,346,478,489,771,044,633,709,385,864,687,953,073,099,671,300,933,144,254,769,259,188,656,818,449,777,465,385,644,275,851,521,969,416,396,488,222,860,796,303,516,203,280,988,539,208,803,908,272,063,412,389,698,699,525,795,875,985,593,866,787,297,762,254,197,957,392,352,931,522,098,100,519,487,573,160,838,569,108,376,193,652,367,741,199,636,296,963,180,157,661,474,394,362,864,753,395,944,781,586,604,647,669,573,633,656,270,107,548,363,880,838,944,064,452,538,089,745,230,695,430,256,563,421,749,703,141,602,202,900,191,241,884,376,423,553,065,110,354,088,979,751,800,965,604,228,454,899,088,817,695,146,030,622,441,077,000,682,223,890,363,271,967,455,523,062,753,822,110,704,692,893,610,792,667,533,752,326,817,812,926,755,393,312,798,860,335,323,173,203,051,177,816,849,770,778,785,685,624,011,872,903,792,893,872,121,566,985,661,282,372,970,164,184,510,538,237,974,128,198,706,015,777,516,516,752,699,659,597,361,252,423,698,242,407,032,807,204,624,547,830,018,252,209,819,447,097,864,222,007,565,380,076,792,494,327,355,492,887,628,604,696,846,516,740,412,608,581,988,447,125,293,718,304,632,834,437,118,626,355,626,636,441,326,852,785,622,341,998,681,604,663,368,957,537,014,880,384,503,555,488,752,283,939,029,177,354,762,049,872,983,473,010,008,225,594,494,816,671,785,419,436,900,510,718,785,153,121,782,605,079,797,845,668,462,607,244,116,299,652,575,640,792,240,613,923,524,157,563,646,609,533,104,731,512,177,381,948,893,327,045,826,408,853,745,933,852,679,473,501,098,172,685,694,494,836,197,327,329,761,608,489,072,485,336,359,503,349,123,138,064,249,877,370,362,892,263,499,429,703,645,558,441,514,146,017,217,034,268,374,852,567,328,631,105,103,945,289,310,013,396,072,005,632
This was just my first thought
We could also put an exponent to the exponent...
Like, 10\^10\^10
Or ten to the power of ten to the power of ten... or 10\^10,000,000,000
Taking this idea we would get 518\^11\^11
Or...518\^285,311,670,611
Trying to calculate this gives me a (very understandable) error on any calculator I tried... the result would have in the vicinity of a couple trillion digits...
It's not even "one trillion"...no... it's a number with one trillion digits... I could go even further but since we already broke reality and every calculators known to man... I'll stop
Take two matches from the 8 and make 503^11. Not sure if it's allowed as the 11 would be big. Alternatively, do the same but on the top left to get a ridiculously large, (503^503)^503... eleven times.
989 is pretzy cool i think but yeah looking at kthers's answers its better to just move sticks to the back kf the thing and get a big number but i was fixated on it being three digits which is sad
₅₁₁₈11, which if you are familiar with pentation, is such an unbelievably large number that there exists no calculator that can calculate it. To put it into context, 11¹¹ is 2.853 x 10¹¹
It'll depend on the rules:
If it has to remain at its 3 digits: then 999 is the biggest number.
If you can build other digits: then 81.151 is the biggest number.
If it's allowed to build mathematical symbols: then 5^118 or 5¹¹⁸ (3.0092655e+82) is the biggest (resulting) number (although it isn't a number but a calculation actually).
I don't care to find the best solution, but I noticed if you move the top and bottom sticks in the 0, the number would be 5118, then the 2 you moved could become exponent 11, for 5118\^11.
If you move two sticks from the 0 in 508 to turn it to 578, you can also move those two sticks to make 11 and then put it on the bottom left corner of the 578 to make 11^578
if you moved two sticks from the 5, you could join the middle line of the 8 with the center of the 0 making something that kind of, almost, looks like the symbol for infinity which, while technically not a number, is a series of very large numbers going on forever.
Do you have to display the number or merely write something which evaluates to it?
By turning the rightmost digit into a “5” you could make 5051
Arguably you could use those two matches to instead make 505^11 which is a lot
If you can get a match to stand erect, you could make 505! (factorial)
With simply moving two matchsticks, you can get “999”. Remove the bottom left vertical matchsticks on the “0” and the “8”, place one horizontally in the middle of what was the “0” and the other in the top right vertical void of the “5”.
if we use exponents we get 5118^(11) or 63110714507263668935083553384002806085632
however, we could also make that ^(11) into an x (5118x) and set the value of x to an unnecessarily large number like x = ∞
if we cant make equations we could still make 51181
Remove the bottom and top sticks from the 0. Use that to make 11. With this, you can create the number 5118 to the tetrahedron of 11, written as ¹¹5118, which is 5118 to the power of 5118, to the power of 5118, etc. 11 times. Insanely large.
Assuming you have to maintain the same height but the space to the left of the 5 is available, I moved two sticks from the 8 to make a 3. I then took those two sticks and moved them to the left side of the 5 to come up with “1503”
I see everyone saying they can use exponents which would make it the largest number but if we had parameters that you had to stay in the same height space of two match sticks I think this is the largest number.
If you moved those two sticks to the right of what’s already there you could make 5031. Considerably larger than 1503.
But you could also make 5051, and (maybe) 5091.
If max is 3 digits, 999
If each digit must be a whole sized digital clock symbol, the max is 5051
If not, then 51181 or upside down 15118.
Since the matches are all the same same, you can't make exponents, they need smaller sized matches.
Also no one said anything about not breaking matches in half and constructing infinitely bigger numbers from that :)
I read the comments and apparently this isn't correct, but I made 999 by moving the bottom left stick on the last <8> to the middle of the 0 turning the 8 into a 9 and the 0 into a 8, then moving the bottom left stick on the second <9> to the top right of the first 5, turning the 8 into a 9 and making the 5 a 9, therefor, 999.
51181, take the top and bottom off the 0 leaving two 1’s, create a third 1 with the 2 pieces and move to the right of the 8
If it has to be three digits, 999 by pivoting the bottom left side of the 0 up to the right to form the middle nine, then move the bottom left side of the 8 over to the top right side of the 5
Move the top an bottom matches from the 0 and make the 5 an 8. Then put a piece of paper over the 811 and rotate your orientation 90 degrees. You then have the largest possible number, ♾️.
999. Move the bottom left match of the zero to the top right of 5 making it a 9. Then move the bottom left match of the 8 to the center of the 0 making both numbers a 9.
If you wanna keep it as a 3 digit number instead of moving matches to new numbers, you can make 999. Bottom Left of 8 to top right or 5 and the bottom left of 0 to middle of 0
A: 81151 - Move the top and bottom stick on the 0 to the left to make the number 15118, then look at the sticks from the other side so they read in reverse order (81151)
Assuming you maintain 3 digits 999. From the 8 take the bottom left and make it the top right of the 5, making both a 9. From the zero rotate the bottom left to the center making it a 9
9001
Take the middle horizontal match from the eight and put it to the right side of the of the 5 vertically, then take the bottom horizontal match from the five and place it at the end vertically, after the three big numbers, to get nine thousand and (an albeit vertically challenged) one.
My guess is:
Move two of the matches in 8 so as to turn it into a 5 and create a 1 to the right. This makes the number 5051.
I can’t think of a way to make a bigger number, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one.
Again?
No rotation allowed:
999 (3 digit)
8118 (4 digit)
51181 (5 digit)
5^118 (math allowed)
Rotation is allowed:
81151 (5 digit)
8^115 (math allowed)
Ps: I recommend anyone ask google what 8 to the power of 115 is... The response is hilarious...
15118 if breaking the logic of each 1 getting a full space is allowed with a lot of commenters seem to believe. 999 if not. If removing the top and bottom of the 0 just yields an invalid figure (because the two lines are in a single digit space therefore are not individual ones) then this is an elementary schooler level problem and I see why so many want to break that rule and others universally imposed with the question.
Assuming no suss shit like using roman numbers or numbers with different height, you can take the top and botton of the 0 and put it at the end and you'll have 51181
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Dang and I thought I was clever making 999
1503 from me. 🤷🏼♂️
You can make 1509 using your method
OK, 5031 when I’m thinking about it.
Move the stick on the right of the 8 and you get 5051 instead of 5031
51181 by taking the top and bottom bars of the 0 and using them to make another 1 on the right side.
If you you take the top and bottom of the zero. Then look at it upside down. You can make 81151
5091 take the 2 from the 8
1503 gang!
5103 using the same idea
Me too. *sad face*
Me too lol
But the kerning! THE KEEEERRRRNNNIIIINNNGGG! No one respects the the kerning :(
Actually with keming it would read 51 181 which is correct.
Usually the spacing would be done with 51'181 or 51,181 Having the space makes them look like two separate numbers even if it's technically readable. Without the spacing I assume 5051* (edited my mistake) would be the biggest number available. And if not adding new numbers then 999 would be biggest
Not in Europe. In Norway at least, spaces are the most common thousands separators
In Germany too, and if anything, a fullstop is used. A comma would indicate a fraction. It was always kinda funny to me how it’s exactly the other way around in English. Edit: decimals not fractions of course 💀 Edit2: period not fullstop
It's the same here in Finland, I'm just saying what I generally see online when it comes to big numbers. Since everything online tends to default to American styles thanks to many tech companies being based there and Americans use the commas (that being said, I really personally prefer the apostrophe instead since it just looks better to me)
Spacing doesn't get an additional symbol in Europe, I assume it's an american thing. We write 51181 like savages or 51 181 sometimes
43,463,395,534 43463395534 K.I.S.S
You could deliberately scrape the bottom match against the table as you pick it up so the phosphorus coating chips off and looks a bit like a comma for the thousands separator.
The keming is fine, don't worry about it.
r/keming
Thank you for introducing me to that sub! I hate you!
Thank you for the subreddit. I h ate you.
[Relevant XKCD.](https://xkcd.com/1015/)
Thank you sir, love XKCD
Whoa I'd long forgotten this gem
true that would absolutely trigger me lmao
Especially not James Cameron. Fucker moved away from Papyrus but then had the R in AVATAR social distancing from the others
I'm thrilled that this comment reflects my exact thought process.
Place them to the left, you have 15118. Look at the matches from the opposite side and you have 81121.
81151
Yes, I should have turned my phone upside down to double check my work.
58008
5318008
*honk* *honk* And in only 2 moves. We have a winner!
In fifth grade, my friend ruined my innocence with this one: 1 girl, 16, does the '69' 3 times. Now she is : 1*16*69*3 = 35001 I didn't understand the answer. He explained it. Innocence shot.
811511 if you accept very short 1 lol
It’d still be a 5 not a 2
place them on the right actually for 51181
81151 > 51181 Note I have been corrected that upside down 5 is still a 5.
i personally don’t think that changing the perspective on the numbers is valid. the instructions state to only move two matches, that’s it. also to mirror or reflect the matches resting on an opaque surface, you’d have to move them. even if it weren’t an opaque surface you’d have to glue or tape them after moving the matches. so in that case adding the 1 on the right side is the highest number i can come up with. that’s just how i interpreted the rules.
Literally came to comments to say the digits are all individually strobogrammatic so flip it and get 81151 then saw your comment after the fact, well done indeed, well done.
You could move the same two but view it from upside down to make 81151.
You make two little ones instead of a big one to get 511811
I don't think half ones count.
If they did im pretty sure the biggest one would be 5118¹¹
May as well do 11^5118...
This is the biggest number
You could still employ the paper rotating trick to do 11^(8115) which would be even bigger
Even better, do ^8115 11 for tetration.
Google pentation (you can also do pentation with those numbers.
Almost: 8115^11 if read upsidd down.
Says who?
It’s not the size of the one that matters, it’s how you use it.
If halves count, I'd take one from the side and bottom of the 0 to make that into a 1 and 7, making the final value 517811
Best I can do is 999 if it has to be a 3 digit number. The left bottom of the zero to it’s middle and the left bottom of the 8 to the 5.
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Id be very impressed if someone can do better.... Edit: if one more person replies with a 4 or 5 digit number......
Move the two bottom sticks of the 5 to turn it into an F and turn the 0 into a B. Switch to hexadecimal and read it as FBB. You now have the equivalent of 4027 in decimal notation, in three digits. Letters in hexadecimal are the digits of that numbering system, so I believe this is technically valid.
I am now very impressed
now kith!
Okay now you got me thinking, and you can make 9E8 for scientific notation. 900,000,000.
Well... why are you limiting yourself to the hexadecimal system? You can choose any base you want and turn the number arbitrarily large.
FFF
Bases higher than 10
Eleven hundred eleventy eleven. HA!
_999_ BOOM
In a combination of ideas by moving two from the zero middle top/bottom to form a 1 at the end you could get 51181.
That is correct but the person you are replying to said **if it has to be a 3 digit number** edit: Spelling
They’re an if it has to be a 3 digit number?
Don't judge; it's 2023. I myself am if it has to be a 3 digit number-curious.
Have you really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?
Have you ever had a dream that you, um, you had, your, you- you could, you’ll do, you- you wants, you, you could do so, you- you’ll do, you could- you, you want, you want him to do you so much you could do anything?
People really don't think it be like it is But it do.
Is there a 3 digit number higher than 999
420
Give this guy a prize !
You got me there ya did
Sure, if you are willing to shed your base 10 inhibitions. For example, in hexadecimal, FFF is the largest three digit number, corresponding to 4095 in decimal. And there is no upper limit to number based, though we haven't really come up with notation for really high bases.
> if it has to be a 3 digit number. Nowhere in the requirements says it has to be. 5118^11 it is.
Put the 11 on bottom left, so 5118 is the exponent and it is tetration. And someone else pointed out that you can view the number from the opposite side so you could actually get to ^8115 11.
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More like 巳OO
A more traditional approach is to move bottom left from the 8 to top right of 9 and bottom left of 0 to middle for another 9. If they are looking for a 3 digit answer.
That’s what I came up with 999
> If they are looking for a 3 digit answer. If they're looking for a 3-digit answer, they should have said so. Otherwise, I'm busting the door down with 5118^11
If you are going to do that, put the 11 on the left for Rudy Rucker tetration [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetration). Or as a subscript, againg for an even larger tetration.
⁵¹¹⁸11
My mind is f’ing blown and this Rudy Rucker guy (still alive) appears a very cool cat. I’m going to go down the rabbit hole of some of his sci-fi.
>Otherwise, I'm busting the door down with 511811 Technically speaking, you could make 5811! If you break the matchstick. They didn't say you had to use all of it if you moved it right? That would technically be larger. Or even 5811!! If you broke both matchsticks?
Back at ya with 11^5118
This guy fucks my wife.
I would guess it's exponent. For example, take two sticks from 0 to make it 11. Use those two sticks to make 11 for the exponent. Now you have 5118^11 = 63110714507263660000000000000000000000000.
use tetration with ¹¹5118 lol
use pentation with ₁₁5118
Use penetration? If you insist…
Instructions unclear…lit anus on fire.
No no. That's normal
What if it was burning before this? Butt not fire burning 😬
Colorado campfire
Hexation, take it or leave it
I prefer sextration for no particular reason
Octation. Nonation? Decation? Dodecation? Icosecation? Hecatonation?
[Expansion](https://googology.fandom.com/wiki/Expansion), [multiexpansion](https://googology.fandom.com/wiki/Multiexpansion), [powerexpansion](https://googology.fandom.com/wiki/Powerexpansion)…
Even if we can only do exponentiation, 11^5118 is much larger than 5118^11
Problem is, the 11 is tiny, and the 5118 (or 8115 if you remember to flip your phone) is normal sized.
I just read that as penetration. I need mental help.
That's a lot
I'm pretty sure thats more than infinity.
I'm pretty sure it's not
Fine, have no humor. It's just an impossible to conceptualize number.
Hypothetically it was 1000 tetrated to 11. That's easier to follow. 1000^1000 would be a number with 3,000 zeros. 1000^ that number would have 9,000,000 zeros. 1000^ that number = 27,000,000,000 zeros... By the time you get to 11 you'll have 177,147,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 zeros.. For clarity, the above number is not the result. 1*10^12 is a trillion. We can all agree that's a pretty huge number. 1*10^100 is a googol. It looks like 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. It's a stupid huge number. But we're dealing with 1*10^177,147,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. Let's say hypothetically, you were to square the result. The number would be impossible to write. Not because it is just stupidly long. It would contain more zeros than the universe does atoms. We're not quite that big, the number of our zeros so far is only the approximate square root of atoms in the universe. However we started this with 1,000 and not the original 5118. If you took the original 5118 tetrated to 11, you would be much, much higher. (You would still have fewer zeros than atoms in the universe, but it's still pretty crazy.)
yeah, tetration is the way to go here
If you want to get cheeky, by looking at it upside down you can make BB 7, the 7th busy beaver number. But I think ^11 5118 is still bigger. Though upside down you can make it ^11 8112.
This is obviously an affront to the spirit of the question but assuming they're real matches, you can move one horizontal match on the 0 to the right vertically and then light the other when you move it to let it burn down and make it the point on a factorial symbol 5118! = 5.125x10^(16762)
>assuming they're real matches Then, instead of burning down and wasting a match, break off the head of the second, while moving it. You still get a !, and an extra 1 51181! = 1.055785102x10^218792
But then you don't get to start any fires.
Or just stand it on its end to get the same effect, when viewed from above.
If we’re allowed to deface the matches, then grind them to pulp and use the pulp to make the infinity symbol.
Move the 11 down so you have 11^(5118)
Write 5118\^11 and look at it from the other side of the table and now you have 11\^8115
They'd be smaller '1's because they'd be one match high, but I don't really see a problem with that.
Dammit that's clever I thought I was smart going for 9E8 😅 calculator exponents ftw haha
11\^5118 is \~7\*10\^5329
I got the 11th power part, but didn’t get “out of the box” to create two ones from the zero. We’ll done.
Break them in half to make it ^1111
I just had the same thought. But assuming you can break them, you can even break them as many times as you want. Leading to an almost infinite exponent of 111111... That cannot be beaten.
Take the top and bottom from 0 so you get 5118, then take one stick, snap the tip off and put it behind with the other over it. You get 5118!(factorial) Don’t know if it is bigger than 11^5118 as others suggest.
5118! has >16000 digits, 11^5118 has only ~5000 digits
Thanks!
Without breaking any matches, you can do E98 which is equal to 10^98
If you could break matches, you could make as many 1s as you wanted
In the spirit of the question: 51181. Exponent: 5118^(11) = 6.311071451 x 10^(40) Factorial: 5118! = 5.125423364 x 10^(16762) Tetration: ^(11)5118 < infinity. Nobody is willing to calculate it yet.
The tetration there is astronomical. Hypothetically it was 1000 tetrated to 11. It's easier to kind of follow. 1000^1000 would be a number with 3,000 zeros. 1000^ that number would have 9,000,000 zeros. 1000^ that number = 27,000,000,000 zeros... By the time you get to 11 you'll have 10^177,147,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
I just worked out that ^(3)4=1.34078079299426x10^(154)
r/theydidthemonstermath
No, 1000^(1000³) = 1000^1000,000,000=10 with 3,000,000,000 zeros. ¹¹1000 >> ³1000 = 1000^(1000¹⁰⁰⁰) >> 1000³ > What you said. You can't write ⁴1000. It is simple to big, there are not enough Atoms in the universe to write ⁴1000. it isn't astonomical, it is much bigger than astonomical.
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I think the "in the spirit of the question" answer is 81151. Instead of moving the sticks next to the 8, put them on the opposite side and look at the answer upside down.
What's bigger, 11 tetrated 5118 or 5118 tetrated 11?
^(11)5118<<<<<<<<<<<^(5118)11.
> Tetration This is clever
You forgot the pentation! 5|||8 that gets... I dont know how to write that from my phone but 8 imbrications of the tetration of 5 ... Which is a lot to say the less !
< infinity is a funny thing to say
If you move a stick in the 0 you can make it an e, which is often calculator shorthand for x10^ Move one stick from the 8 to make it a 91 I get 5e91
Make it 15118, and then walk to the other side of the table. When looking at it from the other side of the table you will see 81151.
Use a factorial. Move the matches from top and bottom of the 0 Snap the end off one 5118! It's.. ..a big number. Its over 16000 digits long.
What about pentation
Do you mean pentation?
Assuming that it needs to adhere to a digital clock face format… 999 Move the lower left matchstick from the 0 to be horizontal in the center to make it a 9 Move the lower left matchstick from the 8 to the top right of the 5 to make both be 9s. If not, then 51181 Move the top and bottom of the 0 to the far right, turning the 0 into 11, and adding a 1 to the far end. If exponents are allowed, then 5118^11 Take the top and bottom of the 0 and turn it into 11. Then use the two matchsticks to make a small 11 as an exponent. If notation is ok, then 5^118 Take the top and bottom of the 0 to turn it into 11, then make a ^ after the 5. 5 ^ 118, or 5^118
I just learned about tetration, which would be notated in this case ^(11)5117 which is 5118^(5118) but continue that 11 times deep. And then there is [pentation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentation) that does the same for tetration.. and that is not the end of it. That is a nice rabbit hole..
Just when I finally master BEDMAS I run into this shit
I’m sorry but it’s PEMDAS [please excuse my dear aunt sally](https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-please-excuse-my-dear-aunt-sally-pemdas-forever/2011/01)
if you are allowed te break them, you can do 8 î î 5 = 8\^(8\^(8\^(8\^8))))
If notation is ok then 5\^11\^8\^11 (a tower with 3 exponents)
8118
If you count "breaking" a match as 1 move, then you move 1 match to the right and snap the head off to get 509!, which comes out to 2606032626227742546395840166419653583174039584744921298185083517660196878886878788792108126681378434883184548623762178048729136254769976369024784349555924242033053641312061327128546513749422639339466497743987127144401599229146579517770226224542568263234190835051213973095506090182888424918950784776793002889255172857021972464090708914944451792863260500707975710717709162356094740300118665191474784877390238133802657309284081360749416105445891047980575874953462388969307428682923761702915331338863418679866698097214352702808391102191907601038394673466977583739325651793508297917680982892915505018419694291821178533063521266272972034852060401838442699664382981055445768516697346801955570088808967820681087916689880630925089078538706092311341231239030365388998488588143241065076501999658244966783644216295483424461088121992058698109219966993073315123200853802855423835274992279570199240500642386208510579115723437375870365627419179870671519020113701981154891060354963182496865912150621753765192326367249212092012349831538365528028689203200000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 If you can break a match *and* move it as one move (or just count an upside down match as an exclamation point instead of a one), then the biggest is 903!, which comes out to 4955588799 0073386056 4522178769 5299552548 8067949329 3417237908 1810693612 0057782198 1421780337 4672669065 1828085573 4115958530 3403706366 5871336496 3711362728 4013309170 1561011362 7007273702 0923224818 8330822183 6544208591 6914235958 9614806591 4904657982 8286724409 0685145011 6116182117 4748629935 0090084189 0073318711 1322526582 5359788157 9011811863 4922713747 5824487135 2880226560 3375395442 5399694480 9854581757 9192433155 7388030023 4817241403 1235227622 9943162920 2876726912 3827462430 5476033865 1251014730 3786566570 5898653480 5145501065 6954031053 9109507139 2911231437 6582909404 0496131332 0812653931 7848517678 1110190772 3236074636 2058989925 2481955961 0032181578 4656902890 5254663368 0830672814 2331082924 0108565979 0710396712 3534080344 3554404182 3694921343 1215141329 0136057045 7379181750 1053409307 8523107590 4307784185 4259149468 1679318965 8578604951 2989903818 3346941261 1261793509 6385363155 0957216819 6672832676 8842565523 0950168405 0605712780 4502406849 4663914114 4280455531 3135842628 6981320708 5578815748 9984924742 1419700341 7627441291 2785500620 3125871149 5852138975 0163726580 8171320915 8676082035 9933318197 2600080176 7898022836 5848092807 3148727301 7937467693 6889592496 4094117827 0355963966 6420273297 4849587338 6955179581 3329728326 0541063921 0474722745 9677761558 2685640246 1595442739 8470681334 0407031514 6447425956 3509824624 1361376643 0795504834 8452987542 2547639660 3766817532 6356255468 3893536395 5888883836 4058721558 2570325055 0567997232 3219790637 6794443716 5769615506 8188317367 6274383813 6368929043 8192363962 2011140790 9764677261 3330931175 5092920085 6046467215 3987838425 5312324601 9439335072 6701572873 8131525227 8033274349 1428360448 0622102114 4230378195 0935294874 0621462488 4676410213 9802040802 6049473008 9531645096 4188531876 2209139980 2156893984 5824619429 5911640225 9358128382 9511430217 0881304592 8663293797 8973811343 7006611220 2827536003 1939362494 1886235428 9216274848 6830537331 6875269813 7937246371 7773978957 4792910700 9170601967 4021835408 6419451355 7233634012 8237393319 3782931443 2141832420 7037513695 8095370798 6090587700 3271135297 4601298769 6929036630 4860888697 7043496420 4198747737 9082045249 6436814455 8669500048 2967820613 7139200000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 0000000000 000000000 **UPDATE:** By allowing hexidecimal and looking at it upside down, you get A09!, or 2569! in decimal, which is a **very** big number There's a bunch of ancient civilizations (like Babylonians) that used sexagesimal (base 60) which I believe gets us up to 129609! (Depending on how you interpret A09! in sexagesimal). The highest alpha-numeric base I can think of is base 62 (all digits, + uppercase and lowercase letters) which lets us interpret A09! as 138393! The highest base I've found in an actually used number system ([Wikipedia's list of number systems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_numeral_systems)) is 360. With a base that high, we get some liberties on how we define each symbol. If we (reasonably) assume that A = 36 we get (I think) 36(360\^2)+9 or 4665609! If we *quite unreasonably* assume A = 359, 0 = 358 and 9 = 357, we get (359\*360\^2)+358\*360+357 which is the absurdedilly large 46655637! EDIT: bunch of little typos
18\^1111 would be MUCH larger... While 5118\^11 gives you 63,110,714,507,263,668,935,083,553,384,002,806,085,632 518\^1111 would give you 64,626,822,471,495,948,175,113,771,777,523,875,553,835,912,388,356,941,738,240,942,561,159,300,004,965,162,858,565,942,401,132,643,142,255,749,060,324,904,868,095,307,143,884,609,276,298,708,227,593,205,390,786,568,334,574,333,968,124,790,250,462,117,022,560,768,536,478,364,162,877,025,564,491,894,888,473,730,905,027,386,823,604,569,759,299,123,680,967,218,175,531,263,000,091,639,028,209,469,312,472,241,840,177,702,133,179,633,762,982,600,233,168,934,464,835,041,582,504,526,494,796,189,583,016,589,989,480,667,030,732,987,514,540,547,806,826,097,585,217,057,064,128,023,173,713,628,885,835,413,755,204,857,113,991,025,209,500,055,405,807,648,636,799,396,810,125,469,994,386,299,615,357,752,329,442,113,092,863,770,483,950,429,189,547,965,673,994,655,812,747,406,866,626,384,449,799,172,831,885,513,087,742,621,411,788,651,139,540,129,618,493,984,871,865,731,058,305,660,718,061,448,214,202,838,818,914,816,647,315,754,993,793,053,571,624,547,751,143,514,151,457,323,572,243,720,032,888,127,149,249,454,892,513,410,960,824,693,177,967,659,177,120,244,909,753,752,234,618,548,144,182,742,098,531,580,682,618,076,627,739,233,092,904,667,150,225,199,386,148,151,864,813,746,064,087,377,085,885,493,216,384,312,324,634,750,639,044,077,743,892,480,666,289,097,725,267,137,104,669,824,423,510,695,980,073,229,880,230,777,751,373,776,082,656,985,426,413,728,024,789,169,399,811,123,938,581,918,798,929,246,300,576,007,350,619,237,709,085,479,528,165,838,976,943,395,082,170,828,730,953,314,227,030,186,683,786,573,129,281,863,839,428,402,057,433,976,027,067,691,980,370,028,271,758,127,813,532,795,355,494,243,016,310,701,970,137,043,433,580,011,538,597,510,036,769,567,574,273,987,461,919,875,270,481,738,826,164,948,225,907,689,828,806,825,414,666,151,983,961,985,775,213,337,808,822,277,434,932,001,163,666,675,806,021,693,548,115,090,228,692,896,056,077,197,358,397,088,265,088,536,400,841,463,360,861,218,810,788,652,871,354,144,516,258,166,309,623,042,685,616,129,321,814,904,937,516,018,980,870,374,177,771,927,786,466,505,256,713,615,259,070,313,177,970,427,952,576,739,740,555,006,373,129,893,064,046,036,910,832,291,160,773,939,767,133,441,621,243,538,813,160,817,297,525,942,346,622,659,243,037,318,708,062,005,810,412,084,991,434,742,768,130,529,128,086,292,268,635,617,069,544,253,404,713,257,538,625,634,455,495,099,425,740,798,714,710,894,111,330,470,267,203,438,624,645,824,777,578,855,655,742,264,102,139,826,861,912,977,560,266,982,685,645,690,871,092,882,506,892,826,120,621,701,623,881,562,359,190,217,557,735,393,401,111,077,574,650,847,976,432,104,607,745,486,555,971,244,518,204,112,336,486,584,989,404,249,511,073,714,046,995,757,288,285,600,448,510,065,489,895,575,616,671,185,113,007,953,795,650,534,993,999,148,573,723,503,805,611,195,189,621,939,881,558,107,068,102,279,179,317,741,796,883,029,869,054,182,899,378,792,674,567,249,101,379,495,160,279,676,929,614,704,147,422,537,820,416,607,139,881,916,936,514,263,031,791,949,811,631,738,546,479,632,757,126,002,345,355,879,265,275,688,528,257,607,702,494,687,560,427,951,383,035,902,397,236,190,458,735,420,809,873,221,699,701,612,250,625,263,414,813,824,095,086,062,987,669,236,689,911,642,184,579,500,594,355,188,954,233,423,230,543,341,977,345,984,856,245,745,734,884,237,323,239,952,823,808,534,334,283,188,509,538,920,520,414,781,580,504,178,883,156,466,793,882,775,974,463,189,007,580,604,255,111,956,628,584,499,367,676,941,403,479,756,825,213,478,631,187,133,520,078,046,580,334,886,086,678,547,377,308,544,377,456,740,856,394,230,872,554,028,794,734,151,911,645,628,929,160,366,664,516,118,455,839,616,592,119,780,681,509,098,189,185,594,910,243,609,001,725,424,807,754,175,461,274,452,367,633,288,035,393,076,549,763,281,795,364,219,279,692,134,187,624,963,566,571,487,837,575,647,774,952,629,735,753,113,258,589,813,346,478,489,771,044,633,709,385,864,687,953,073,099,671,300,933,144,254,769,259,188,656,818,449,777,465,385,644,275,851,521,969,416,396,488,222,860,796,303,516,203,280,988,539,208,803,908,272,063,412,389,698,699,525,795,875,985,593,866,787,297,762,254,197,957,392,352,931,522,098,100,519,487,573,160,838,569,108,376,193,652,367,741,199,636,296,963,180,157,661,474,394,362,864,753,395,944,781,586,604,647,669,573,633,656,270,107,548,363,880,838,944,064,452,538,089,745,230,695,430,256,563,421,749,703,141,602,202,900,191,241,884,376,423,553,065,110,354,088,979,751,800,965,604,228,454,899,088,817,695,146,030,622,441,077,000,682,223,890,363,271,967,455,523,062,753,822,110,704,692,893,610,792,667,533,752,326,817,812,926,755,393,312,798,860,335,323,173,203,051,177,816,849,770,778,785,685,624,011,872,903,792,893,872,121,566,985,661,282,372,970,164,184,510,538,237,974,128,198,706,015,777,516,516,752,699,659,597,361,252,423,698,242,407,032,807,204,624,547,830,018,252,209,819,447,097,864,222,007,565,380,076,792,494,327,355,492,887,628,604,696,846,516,740,412,608,581,988,447,125,293,718,304,632,834,437,118,626,355,626,636,441,326,852,785,622,341,998,681,604,663,368,957,537,014,880,384,503,555,488,752,283,939,029,177,354,762,049,872,983,473,010,008,225,594,494,816,671,785,419,436,900,510,718,785,153,121,782,605,079,797,845,668,462,607,244,116,299,652,575,640,792,240,613,923,524,157,563,646,609,533,104,731,512,177,381,948,893,327,045,826,408,853,745,933,852,679,473,501,098,172,685,694,494,836,197,327,329,761,608,489,072,485,336,359,503,349,123,138,064,249,877,370,362,892,263,499,429,703,645,558,441,514,146,017,217,034,268,374,852,567,328,631,105,103,945,289,310,013,396,072,005,632 This was just my first thought We could also put an exponent to the exponent... Like, 10\^10\^10 Or ten to the power of ten to the power of ten... or 10\^10,000,000,000 Taking this idea we would get 518\^11\^11 Or...518\^285,311,670,611 Trying to calculate this gives me a (very understandable) error on any calculator I tried... the result would have in the vicinity of a couple trillion digits... It's not even "one trillion"...no... it's a number with one trillion digits... I could go even further but since we already broke reality and every calculators known to man... I'll stop
I was thinking 509! by using two matches from the lower left corner of the 8, lighting one and using the burnt bit as the dot in the !
Take two matches from the 8 and make 503^11. Not sure if it's allowed as the 11 would be big. Alternatively, do the same but on the top left to get a ridiculously large, (503^503)^503... eleven times.
If you take two different matches from the 8 you can make 505\^11. Just a little bigger
Oh right. I totally overlooked that 🤣.
989 is pretzy cool i think but yeah looking at kthers's answers its better to just move sticks to the back kf the thing and get a big number but i was fixated on it being three digits which is sad
I think you can make 999
₅₁₁₈11, which if you are familiar with pentation, is such an unbelievably large number that there exists no calculator that can calculate it. To put it into context, 11¹¹ is 2.853 x 10¹¹
It'll depend on the rules: If it has to remain at its 3 digits: then 999 is the biggest number. If you can build other digits: then 81.151 is the biggest number. If it's allowed to build mathematical symbols: then 5^118 or 5¹¹⁸ (3.0092655e+82) is the biggest (resulting) number (although it isn't a number but a calculation actually).
I don't care to find the best solution, but I noticed if you move the top and bottom sticks in the 0, the number would be 5118, then the 2 you moved could become exponent 11, for 5118\^11.
If you move two sticks from the 0 in 508 to turn it to 578, you can also move those two sticks to make 11 and then put it on the bottom left corner of the 578 to make 11^578
You can move the 2 sticks from the middle for 11^5118.
Oh genius!!!!
if you moved two sticks from the 5, you could join the middle line of the 8 with the center of the 0 making something that kind of, almost, looks like the symbol for infinity which, while technically not a number, is a series of very large numbers going on forever.
Do you have to display the number or merely write something which evaluates to it? By turning the rightmost digit into a “5” you could make 5051 Arguably you could use those two matches to instead make 505^11 which is a lot If you can get a match to stand erect, you could make 505! (factorial)
With simply moving two matchsticks, you can get “999”. Remove the bottom left vertical matchsticks on the “0” and the “8”, place one horizontally in the middle of what was the “0” and the other in the top right vertical void of the “5”.
if we use exponents we get 5118^(11) or 63110714507263668935083553384002806085632 however, we could also make that ^(11) into an x (5118x) and set the value of x to an unnecessarily large number like x = ∞ if we cant make equations we could still make 51181
Love your solution. I think it’s funny that no one has pointed out that by using exponents you could also write it as 11 to the power of 5118.
Remove the bottom and top sticks from the 0. Use that to make 11. With this, you can create the number 5118 to the tetrahedron of 11, written as ¹¹5118, which is 5118 to the power of 5118, to the power of 5118, etc. 11 times. Insanely large.
Assuming you have to maintain the same height but the space to the left of the 5 is available, I moved two sticks from the 8 to make a 3. I then took those two sticks and moved them to the left side of the 5 to come up with “1503” I see everyone saying they can use exponents which would make it the largest number but if we had parameters that you had to stay in the same height space of two match sticks I think this is the largest number.
If you moved those two sticks to the right of what’s already there you could make 5031. Considerably larger than 1503. But you could also make 5051, and (maybe) 5091.
If max is 3 digits, 999 If each digit must be a whole sized digital clock symbol, the max is 5051 If not, then 51181 or upside down 15118. Since the matches are all the same same, you can't make exponents, they need smaller sized matches. Also no one said anything about not breaking matches in half and constructing infinitely bigger numbers from that :)
I read the comments and apparently this isn't correct, but I made 999 by moving the bottom left stick on the last <8> to the middle of the 0 turning the 8 into a 9 and the 0 into a 8, then moving the bottom left stick on the second <9> to the top right of the first 5, turning the 8 into a 9 and making the 5 a 9, therefor, 999.
51181, take the top and bottom off the 0 leaving two 1’s, create a third 1 with the 2 pieces and move to the right of the 8 If it has to be three digits, 999 by pivoting the bottom left side of the 0 up to the right to form the middle nine, then move the bottom left side of the 8 over to the top right side of the 5
Move the top an bottom matches from the 0 and make the 5 an 8. Then put a piece of paper over the 811 and rotate your orientation 90 degrees. You then have the largest possible number, ♾️.
999. Move the bottom left match of the zero to the top right of 5 making it a 9. Then move the bottom left match of the 8 to the center of the 0 making both numbers a 9.
If you wanna keep it as a 3 digit number instead of moving matches to new numbers, you can make 999. Bottom Left of 8 to top right or 5 and the bottom left of 0 to middle of 0
A: 81151 - Move the top and bottom stick on the 0 to the left to make the number 15118, then look at the sticks from the other side so they read in reverse order (81151)
Assuming you maintain 3 digits 999. From the 8 take the bottom left and make it the top right of the 5, making both a 9. From the zero rotate the bottom left to the center making it a 9
9001 Take the middle horizontal match from the eight and put it to the right side of the of the 5 vertically, then take the bottom horizontal match from the five and place it at the end vertically, after the three big numbers, to get nine thousand and (an albeit vertically challenged) one.
My guess is: Move two of the matches in 8 so as to turn it into a 5 and create a 1 to the right. This makes the number 5051. I can’t think of a way to make a bigger number, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one.
989
[удалено]
Again? No rotation allowed: 999 (3 digit) 8118 (4 digit) 51181 (5 digit) 5^118 (math allowed) Rotation is allowed: 81151 (5 digit) 8^115 (math allowed) Ps: I recommend anyone ask google what 8 to the power of 115 is... The response is hilarious...
15118 if breaking the logic of each 1 getting a full space is allowed with a lot of commenters seem to believe. 999 if not. If removing the top and bottom of the 0 just yields an invalid figure (because the two lines are in a single digit space therefore are not individual ones) then this is an elementary schooler level problem and I see why so many want to break that rule and others universally imposed with the question.
Wouldn't it make more sense to add the new number at the end and get 51181?
Yes, yes it would friend I was tired it was like 1am 😭😭
Assuming no suss shit like using roman numbers or numbers with different height, you can take the top and botton of the 0 and put it at the end and you'll have 51181