From: ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de   
      
   Ben Collver  wrote or quoted:   
   >With them the computers can represent any finite quantity   
      
     Computers /can/ represent /infinite/ quantities just as well,   
     for example: "ℵ₀", "∞".   
      
     Computers (and humans) /can't/ represent "any finite quantity".   
     With the usual notation system for integers, like "0101"2 = "3"10,   
     some finite numbers are just too large. To write down some   
     finite numbers with that system, one would need to write more   
     digits than there are elementary particles in the universe.   
      
     However, what matters is not the value of a number, but how   
     many of them you want to represent. Say, you use this code:   
      
   bit   
   state  meaning   
   0      the number 0   
   1      the number 100^100^100^100^100^100^100^100^100^100^100^100^100^100   
      
     . Now, 100^100^100^100^100^100^100^100^100^100^100^100^100^100 is   
     a very large number (^ is right-associative!). But using this code,   
     it's represented by the bit "1". We need only one single bit,   
     because we chose to represent just /two/ different values.   
      
   >The number 31337 could be represented as:   
      
     Ha, that's "Eleet"!   
      
     Yeah, back then, binary numbers got a lot of attention - something   
     we'd see as just a technical detail nowadays. It's kind of like   
     trying to explain what people are, saying they're mostly made   
     up of water, and then diving into hydrogen and oxygen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)