The Corner

Derb’s Trumper Trumped

But then, as Noah Millman points out: “How many ordinary arithmetic signs

are you allowed to use? If the factorial is allowed in as a valid symbol,

and you are allowed to use any number of symbols, then one digit is enough

to get you to infinity: 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! . . . . etc., and,

indeed, any integer above 2 with an infinite number of factorial symbols

after it is infinite. I say, leave the factorial symbol out.”

D’you ever get that feeling that you wish you’d never started something?

John Derbyshire — Mr. Derbyshire is a former contributing editor of National Review.
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