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Different cultures used different traditional numeral systems for naming large numbers. The extent of large numbers used varied in each culture. Two interesting points in using large numbers are the confusion on the term billion and milliard in many countries, and the use of ''zillion'' to denote a very large number where precision is not required. ==Ancient India== The Indians had a passion for high numbers, which is intimately related to their religious thought. For example, in texts belonging to the Vedic literature, we find individual Sanskrit names for ''each'' of the powers of 10 up to a trillion and even 1062. (Even today, the words 'lakh' and 'crore', referring to 100,000 and 10,000,000, respectively, are in common use among English-speaking Indians.) One of these Vedic texts, the ''Yajur Veda'', even discusses the concept of numeric infinity (''purna'' "fullness"), stating that if you subtract ''purna'' from ''purna'', you are still left with ''purna''. The ''Lalitavistara Sutra'' (a Mahayana Buddhist work) recounts a contest including writing, arithmetic, wrestling and archery, in which the Buddha was pitted against the great mathematician Arjuna and showed off his numerical skills by citing the names of the powers of ten up to 1 'tallakshana', which equals 1053, but then going on to explain that this is just one of a series of counting systems that can be expanded geometrically. The last number at which he arrived after going through nine successive counting systems was 10421, that is, a 1 followed by 421 zeros. There is also an analogous system of Sanskrit terms for fractional numbers, capable of dealing with both very large and very small numbers. Larger number in Buddhism works up to Bukeshuo bukeshuo zhuan (不可說不可說轉) or 1037218383881977644441306597687849648128, which appeared as Bodhisattva's maths in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra.,〔(無量大数の彼方へ )〕〔(大数の名前について )〕 though chapter 30 (the Asamkyeyas) in Thomas Cleary's translation of it we find the definition of the number "untold" as exactly 1010 *2122, expanded in the 2nd verses to 1045 *2121 and continuing a similar expansion indeterminately. A few large numbers used in India by about 5th century BC (''See Georges Ifrah: A Universal History of Numbers, pp 422–423''): * ''lakṣá'' (लक्ष) —105 * ''kōṭi'' (कोटि) —107 * ''ayuta'' (अयुत) —109 * ''niyuta'' (नियुत) —1013 * ''pakoti'' (पकोटि) —1014 * ''vivara'' (विवारा) —1015 * ''kshobhya'' (क्षोभ्या) —1017 * ''vivaha'' (विवाहा) —1019 * ''kotippakoti'' (कोटिपकोटी) —1021 * ''bahula'' (बहुल) —1023 * ''nagabala'' (नागाबाला) —1025 * ''nahuta'' (नाहूटा) —1028 * ''titlambha'' (तीतलम्भा) —1029 * ''vyavasthanapajnapati'' (व्यवस्थानापज्नापति) —1031 * ''hetuhila'' (हेतुहीला) —1033 * ''ninnahuta'' (निन्नाहुता) —1035 * ''hetvindriya'' (हेत्विन्द्रिय) —1037 * ''samaptalambha'' (समाप्तलम्भ) —1039 * ''gananagati'' (गनानागती) —1041 * ''akkhobini'' (अक्खोबिनि) —1042 * ''niravadya'' (निरावाद्य) —1043 * ''mudrabala'' (मुद्राबाला) —1045 * ''sarvabala'' (सर्वबाला) —1047 * ''bindu'' (बिंदु or बिन्दु) —1049 * ''sarvajna'' (सर्वज्ञ) —1051 * ''vibhutangama'' (विभुतन्गमा) —1053 * ''abbuda'' (अब्बुद) —1056 * ''nirabbuda'' (निर्बुद्ध) —1063 * ''ahaha'' (अहाहा) —1070 * ''ababa'' (अबाबा). —1077 * ''atata'' (अटाटा) —1084 * ''soganghika'' (सोगान्घीक) —1091 * ''uppala'' (उप्पल) —1098 * ''kumuda'' (कुमुद) —10105 * ''pundarika'' (पुन्डरीक) —10112 * ''paduma'' (पद्म) —10119 * ''kathana'' (कथन) —10126 * ''mahakathana'' (महाकथन) —10133 * ''asaṃkhyeya'' (असंख्येय) —10140 * ''dhvajagranishamani'' (ध्वजाग्रनिशमनी) —10421 * ''bodhisattva'' (बोधिसत्व or बोधिसत्त) —1037218383881977644441306597687849648128 * ''lalitavistarautra'' (ललितातुलनातारासूत्र) —10200infinities * ''matsya'' (मत्स्य) —10600infinities * ''kurma'' (कूर्म) —102000infinities * ''varaha'' (वराह) —103600infinities * ''narasimha'' (नरसिम्हा) —104800infinities * ''vamana'' (वामन) —105800infinities * ''parashurama'' (परशुराम) —106000infinities * ''rama'' (राम) —106800infinities * ''khrishnaraja'' (कृष्णराज) —10infinities * ''kalki'' (कल्कि) —108000infinities * ''balarama'' (बलराम) —109800infinities * ''dasavatara'' (दशावतार) —1010000infinities * ''bhagavatapurana'' (भागवतपुराण) —1018000infinities * ''avatamsakasutra'' (अवतांशकासूत्र) —1030000infinities * ''mahadeva'' (महादेव) —1050000infinities * ''prajapati'' (प्रजापति) —1060000infinities * ''jyotiba'' (ज्योतिबा) —1080000infinities 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of large numbers」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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