Thread

How big are factorials?

99 points · 43 comments · ibobev

ninju · 1789571102 · focus · HN ↗
The author's casual mention of 52! at the opening of the article triggered an OLD webpage that I saw many years ago
<a href="https://czep.net/weblog/52cards.html" rel="nofollow">https://czep.net/weblog/52cards.html
Anyone know how to determine the age of this page (it's got be at least 20yrs old)
1. TheRealPomax · 1789573017 · focus · HN ↗
  The main.css file it imports dates itself to March 9 of 2005, and is housed in an "ancient history" section of the website that covers everything before October 26, 2010, so: "sometime between those two years" =P
  1. DavidSJ · 1789575410 · focus · HN ↗
    Its first appearance on the WayBack Machine is October 13, 2009, which narrows the range somewhat.
2. stronglikedan · 1789573386 · focus · HN ↗
  52 cards is the first thing I think of when I think factorials. It's such a great and relatable way to convey the subject to people, plus it usually ends up blowing their minds like it did mine when I first learned of it. Not from this page, but from a YT vid many moons ago.
3. Dwedit · 1789573632 · focus · HN ↗
  It was made during the brief XHTML craze. (And it's also invalid XHTML)
  1. rileymat2 · 1789592398 · focus · HN ↗
    I still kind of have a soft spot for XHTML, semantic web and progressive enhancement.
4. benatkin · 1789589033 · focus · HN ↗
  To me it feels like a smuggled exponentation. If I take half of 52 and raise it to itself and add a base unit to it like grams or meters, that's an incomprehensibly large amount.

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.