the need for 64 bits

[Roy Smith]

In article <034921cf$0$1277$c3e8da3 at news.astraweb.com>,
 Steven D'Aprano <steve at REMOVE-THIS-cybersource.com.au> wrote:

> On Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:50:11 -0800, Mensanator wrote:
> 
> > I routinely use large numbers in my Collatz Conjecture work.
> > 
> > Really large. As in a quarter million bits. 
> 
> That's not large. *THIS* is a large number:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham's_number
> 
> Unless you need special notation merely to describe how to generate the 
> number, it's not a large number.

And then, after 'e was done nailing my head to the floor, he said, 
"Consider an n-dimensional hypercube".  It was at that point that I knew he 
was talking about a really big number.