5 ms·

I know mathematicians hate interpunction with a passion but that one's pretty extreme! I have no idea where the timeses and the parentheses are supposed to go..

c3534l 8y ago
! has operator precedence over \
LeifCarrotson 8y ago
It's not helped by the fact than HN markup is interpreting asterisks as requests for italics and backslashes as escape sequences...
- simias 8y ago
  The fact that HN still doesn't have a proper way to display code or mathematical formulas after all these years is a bit ridiculous. I guess by now it's part of the website's culture...
  - yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
    I'd prefer real markdown, but iirc 4 spaces of indentation does it? Foo*bar
    - saagarjha 8y ago
      Two: https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc
- rlue 8y ago
  Does anyone know where to find a guide to HN markup? I've exhausted my google-fu and have come up dry...
  - saagarjha 8y ago
    There's a short one here: https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc
    - rlue 8y ago
      Thanks!
rbonvall 8y ago
It's 2^12 × 3^8 × 8! × 12!
- quietbritishjim 8y ago
  To go full Unicode: 2¹² × 3⁸ × 8! × 12!
  - jacobolus 8y ago
    12!9!(4!3!)³
- cheerlessbog 8y ago
  Perhaps someone can tell us how many digits that has (or am expression for how many digits...)
  - schoen 8y ago
    Its explicit value is 519024039293878272000 (not nearly as big as some integers we discuss around here!).
    - bunderbunder 8y ago
      Or roughly 5.2E20, if you're just looking for the order of magnitude. Or ~520 exapositions, if you want to say it in a way that upsets people.
      - a1369209993 8y ago
        451 exapositions, if you want to say it in a way that really upsets people.
        hathawsh 8y ago
        451 "exbipositions" should calm some of those people down (and further antagonize others). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix#exbi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix#exbi BTW don't bother Googling for exaposition or exbiposition. :-)
basetop 8y ago
It's pretty much impossible to decipher if you don't remember the operator precedence or have the operator precendence handy.

c3534l 8y ago

! has operator precedence over \

LeifCarrotson 8y ago

It's not helped by the fact than HN markup is interpreting asterisks as requests for italics and backslashes as escape sequences...

simias 8y ago
The fact that HN still doesn't have a proper way to display code or mathematical formulas after all these years is a bit ridiculous. I guess by now it's part of the website's culture...
- yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
  I'd prefer real markdown, but iirc 4 spaces of indentation does it? Foo*bar
  - saagarjha 8y ago
    Two: https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc
rlue 8y ago
Does anyone know where to find a guide to HN markup? I've exhausted my google-fu and have come up dry...
- saagarjha 8y ago
  There's a short one here: https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc
  - rlue 8y ago
    Thanks!

rbonvall 8y ago

It's 2^12 × 3^8 × 8! × 12!

quietbritishjim 8y ago
To go full Unicode: 2¹² × 3⁸ × 8! × 12!
- jacobolus 8y ago
  12!9!(4!3!)³
cheerlessbog 8y ago
Perhaps someone can tell us how many digits that has (or am expression for how many digits...)
- schoen 8y ago
  Its explicit value is 519024039293878272000 (not nearly as big as some integers we discuss around here!).
  - bunderbunder 8y ago
    Or roughly 5.2E20, if you're just looking for the order of magnitude. Or ~520 exapositions, if you want to say it in a way that upsets people.
    - a1369209993 8y ago
      451 exapositions, if you want to say it in a way that really upsets people.
      - hathawsh 8y ago
        451 "exbipositions" should calm some of those people down (and further antagonize others). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix#exbi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix#exbi BTW don't bother Googling for exaposition or exbiposition. :-)

basetop 8y ago

It's pretty much impossible to decipher if you don't remember the operator precedence or have the operator precendence handy.