Ko-fi

Tuesday, 19 February 2019

When you need "big" and infinity is "too big"

Today I came across a lazy calculator. I asked it a simple enough question, and in response, I was informed that the answer was "infinite"... and that is a wrong answer.

It is not infinite. It is just big. Really big. Some would even say mind-bogglingly big.

The fact is, the calculator was lazy and just could not be bothered to work it out. The thing is, I use calculators to get accurate answers fast. I don't expect my digital buddies to be workshy.

I would have preferred it display the shrugging emoji than an infinite symbol because that would have at least been truthful, and amusing.

Therefore, we need a new symbol for "not as big as infinite, just mind-bogglingly big, so big we won't even work it out, so let's just look at this snazzy symbol instead, kinda big"... you know, for when the shrugging emoji guy just won't cut it.

To which, I have come up with this:

The Less Than Infinity Symbol

Besides, I really need the answer to not be infinite because I'm writing some code and need to reserve a chunk of memory and my calculation was to tell me precisely how much memory I need, and well, I suspect asking to reserve an infinite amount of memory will not have a favourable outcome.

>Hey, computer: Remember all the stuff

Nope.
>_

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