Archimedes meaning
Archimedes: books!
The Sand Reckoner
Work by Archimedes
"Psammites" redirects here.
Greek letter zero
For other uses, see Psammite.
The Sand Reckoner (Greek: Ψαμμίτης, Psammites) is a work by Archimedes, an Ancient Greek mathematician of the 3rd century BC, in which he set out to determine an upper bound for the number of grains of sand that fit into the universe.
In order to do this, Archimedes had to estimate the size of the universe according to the contemporary model, and invent a way to talk about extremely large numbers.
The work, also known in Latin as Arenarius, is about eight pages long in translation and is addressed to the Syracusan king Gelo II (son of Hiero II).
It is considered the most accessible work of Archimedes.[1]
Naming large numbers
See also: Exponentiation § History
| Periods and orders with their intervals in modern notation[2] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Period | Order | Interval | log10 of interval |
| 1 | 1 | (1, Ơ], where the unit of the second order, Ơ = 108 |
|