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For other arrow notations, see down-arrow notation, mixed arrow notation, chained arrow notation, irrational arrow notation.

Arrow notation or up-arrow notation is a widely used notation for the hyper operators, devised by Donald Knuth in 1976 to represent large numbers.[1][2] Knuth roughly introduced \(a \uparrow b\) as \(a^b\) and \(a \underbrace{\uparrow \cdots \uparrow}_{n \textrm{ times}} b\) as \(\underbrace{a \underbrace{\uparrow \cdots \uparrow}_{n-1 \textrm{ arrows}} a \cdots a \underbrace{\uparrow \cdots \uparrow}_{n-1 \textrm{ arrows}} a}_{b \textrm{ copies of } a}\), which is solved from right to left.

Definition[]

We explain the precise intention of the original definition by Knuth. For any positive integers \(a\), \(b\), and \(n\), \(a \uparrow^n b\) is defined by the following recursive way:

\begin{eqnarray*} a \uparrow^n b = \left\{ \begin{array}{ll} a^b & (n = 1) \\ a & (n \geq 1, b = 1) \\ a \uparrow^{n-1} (a \uparrow^n (b-1)) & (n > 1, b > 1) \end{array} \right. \end{eqnarray*}

This notation gives a total computable function \begin{eqnarray*} \uparrow \colon \mathbb{N}_{>0}^3 & \to & \mathbb{N}_{>0} \\ (a,b,n) & \mapsto & a \uparrow^n b, \end{eqnarray*} where \(\mathbb{N}_{>0}\) denotes the set of positive integers. Readers should be careful that some authors implicitly extend it so that \(a \uparrow^n 0 = 1\) holds for any positive integers \(a\) and \(n\).

It satisfies the following relations, which also characterise the notation, for any positive integers \(a\), \(b\), and \(n\):

\begin{eqnarray*} a \uparrow^1 b &=& a^b \\ a \uparrow^n 1 &=& a \\ a \uparrow^{n + 1} (b + 1) &=& a \uparrow^n (a \uparrow^{n + 1} b) \\ \end{eqnarray*}

Here, \(a \uparrow^{n} b\) is regarded as a shorthand for \(a \uparrow\uparrow\cdots\uparrow\uparrow b\) with \(n\) arrows. So, for example, we have \(a \uparrow^2 b = a \uparrow\uparrow b\). Arrow notation operators are right-associative; \(a \uparrow b \uparrow c\) always means \(a \uparrow (b \uparrow c)\).

Specifically, \(a \uparrow b\) is exponentiation, \(a \uparrow\uparrow b\) is tetration, \(a \uparrow\uparrow\uparrow b\) is pentation, and in general \(a \uparrow^n b\) is the (n+2)th hyper-operation. In ASCII, these are often written a^b, a^^b, a^^^b, ... or a**b, a***b, a****b as consistent with some programming languages which use a^b or a**b for exponentiation.

Application to googology[]

The function \(f(n) = n \uparrow^n n\) is a fast-growing function that eventually dominates all primitive recursive functions, and can be approximated using the fast-growing hierarchy as \(f_\omega(n)\). This is the limit of the non-extended hyper operators, and by extension, arrow notation.

Arrow notation can relate to Hyper-E notation through the following rule: [3]

\(a \uparrow^c b = E[a]\underbrace{1\#1\#1\cdots\#b}_c\)

for positive integers a, b, c. For example,

  • a↑b = E(a)b
  • a↑↑b = E(a)1#b
  • a↑↑↑b = E(a)1#1#b

Arrow notation has been generalized to other notations. A few notable ones are chained arrow notation, BEAF, and BAN. It has also been compared exactly with, among others, Notation Array Notation using the function (a{2, number of arrows}b).

Nathan Ho and Wojowu showed that arrow notation terminates — that is, \(a \uparrow^n b\) exists for all \(a,b,n\).[4][dead link]

Examples[]

2-n-3 series

Examples of \(2 \uparrow^{n} 3\) series with colors for \(n = 1,2,3,4,5\). This picture includes the pt operator.

  • \(2 \uparrow 3 = 2^3 = 8\)
  • \(5 \uparrow 6 = 5^6 = 15,625\)
  • \(10 \uparrow 100 = 10^{100} =\) googol
  • \(3 \uparrow \uparrow 4 = 3 \uparrow 3 \uparrow 3 \uparrow 3 = 3 \uparrow 3 \uparrow 27 = 3^{7,625,597,484,987} \approx 1.2580143*10^{3638334640024}\)
  • \(5 \uparrow\uparrow 3 = 5 \uparrow 5 \uparrow 5 = 5^{5^5} \approx 1.9110126*10^{2184}\)
  • \(2 \uparrow\uparrow\uparrow 2 = 2 \uparrow\uparrow 2 = 2 \uparrow 2 = 2^2 = 4\)
  • \(2 \uparrow\uparrow\uparrow\uparrow 2 = 2 \uparrow\uparrow\uparrow 2 = 2 \uparrow\uparrow 2 = 2 \uparrow 2 = 2^2 = 4\)
  • \(3 \uparrow\uparrow\uparrow 2 = 3 \uparrow\uparrow 3 = 3 \uparrow 3 \uparrow 3 = 3^{3^3} = 3^{27} = 7,625,597,484,987\)
  • \(2 \uparrow\uparrow\uparrow 3 = 2 \uparrow\uparrow 2 \uparrow\uparrow 2 = 2 \uparrow\uparrow 4 = 2 \uparrow 2 \uparrow 2 \uparrow 2 = 2 \uparrow 2 \uparrow 4 = 2 \uparrow 16 = 65,536\)
  • \(3 \uparrow\uparrow\uparrow 3 = 3 \uparrow\uparrow 3 \uparrow\uparrow 3 = 3 \uparrow\uparrow 7,625,597,484,987 = \underbrace{3 \uparrow 3 \uparrow \cdots \uparrow 3 \uparrow 3}_{7,625,597,484,987 \textrm{ times}}\) = Tritri
  • \(10 \uparrow\uparrow\uparrow\uparrow 3 = 10 \uparrow\uparrow\uparrow 10 \uparrow\uparrow\uparrow 10\) = Super K
  • \(a \uparrow^{n+1} 2 = a \uparrow^{n} a\)

For non-integers[]

Fish defined[5] for \(x > 0, n \ge 1, n \in \mathbb{N}\),

\begin{equation} a \uparrow^n x = \begin{cases} a^x & \text{if } 0 < x \le 1 \text{ or } n=1 \\ a \uparrow^{n-1} (a \uparrow^n (x-1)) & \text{if } 1 < x, 1 < n \end{cases} \end{equation}

From this definition,

\(\begin{array}{rl} 10^{100} &= 10 \uparrow 10 \uparrow 2 = 10 \uparrow 10 \uparrow 10 \uparrow \log_{10}(2) \\ &\approx 10 \uparrow 10 \uparrow 10 \uparrow 0.301 = 10 \uparrow \uparrow 2.301 \\ 10^{10^{100}} &= 10 \uparrow 10 \uparrow 10 \uparrow 2 \approx 10 \uparrow 10 \uparrow 10 \uparrow 10 \uparrow 0.301 = 10 \uparrow \uparrow 3.301 \\ 3 \uparrow \uparrow \uparrow 3 &= 3 \uparrow \uparrow 7625597484987 \\ &\approx 10 \uparrow \uparrow 7625597484986.041 \\ &\approx 10 \uparrow \uparrow 10 \uparrow 12.88227 \\ &\approx 10 \uparrow \uparrow 10 \uparrow 10 \uparrow 10 \uparrow 0.04532 \\ &= 10 \uparrow \uparrow 10 \uparrow \uparrow 2.04532 \\ &\approx 10 \uparrow \uparrow 10 \uparrow \uparrow 10 \uparrow \uparrow 0.31076 \\ &= 10 \uparrow \uparrow \uparrow 2.31076 \\ \end{array}\)

Fish used this method to approximate the fast-growing hierarchy precisely, with a program published at the site.[6] Here are some examples.

  • \(f_3(10) \approx 10 \uparrow \uparrow 10.542750880844022\)
  • \(f_3(100) \approx 10 \uparrow \uparrow 101.17592742879957\)
  • \(f_4(5) \approx 10 \uparrow\uparrow\uparrow 5.718488944632594\)
  • \(f_4(10) \approx 10 \uparrow\uparrow\uparrow 11.00425948512775\)
  • \(f_4(100) \approx 10 \uparrow\uparrow\uparrow 101.11465471078382\)
  • \(f_5(100) \approx 10 \uparrow^4 101.04713294995302\)
  • \(f_{10}(10) \approx 10 \uparrow^9 11.000050551171205\)
  • \(f_{100}(100) \approx 10 \uparrow^{99} 101\)

Turing machine code[]

Input form: to represent \(a \uparrow^{c} b\), place a 1's, then c+2 ^'s, then b 1's. For example, 111^^^^^111 computes tritri.

Turing machine code



0 * * r 0
0 _ _ l 1
1 1 _ l 2
2 ^ _ l 3
2 1 1 l 4
3 ^ _ l 3
3 1 _ l 2
4 1 1 l 4
4 ^ 1 l 4'
4 _ 1 l halt
4' ^ ^ l 5
4' 1 1 r 0
5 ^ ^ l 5
5 1 1 r 6
6 ^ x r 7
6 1 y r 9
6 | ^ l 12
7 * * r 7
7 _ | r 8
7 | | r 8
8 * * r 8
8 _ ^ l 11
9 * * r 9
9 | | r 10
10 * * r 10
10 _ 1 l 11
11 * * l 11
11 x ^ r 6
11 y 1 r 6
12 * * l 12
12 ^ ^ l 12'
12' ^ ^ l 12'
12' * * l 13
12' 1 x r 14
13 * * l 13
13 ^ ^ r 20
13 _ _ r 20
13 1 x r 14
14 * * r 14
14 ^ ^ r 15
15 ^ ^ r 15
15 x x r 16
15 1 x l 12
16 x x r 16
16 1 x l 12
16 ^ x r 17
17 ^ ^ r 17
17 1 ^ r 18
18 ^ 1 r 17
18 1 1 r 18
18 _ 1 l 19
19 * * l 19
19 x x l 12
20 x 1 r 20
20 ^ ^ r 21
21 ^ ^ r 21
21 x x r 22
22 x x r 22
22 1 _ r 23
22 ^ ^ l 30
23 1 _ r 23
23 ^ ^ l 24
24 _ ^ r 25
25 ^ ^ r 25
25 1 1 l 26
26 ^ 1 r 27
27 1 1 r 27
27 _ _ l 28
28 1 _ l 29
29 * * l 29
29 _ ^ r 25
29 x 1 l 30
30 x 1 l 30
30 ^ ^ r 31
31 * * r 31
31 _ _ l 32
32 1 _ l 1


See also[]

Sources[]

  1. Donald E. Knuth, Mathematics and Computer Science: Coping with Finiteness, Advances in Our Ability to Compute are Bringing Us Substantially Closer to Ultimate Limitations, Science 194, pp. 1235--1242, 1976.
  2. Knuth Up-Arrow Notation from Wolfram Mathworld
  3. Fish, Comparison of up-arrow notation with hyper-E notation 1 July 2021
  4. http://snappizz.com/termination
  5. Fish, ja:ユーザーブログ:Kyodaisuu/テトレーションの連続関数化 2014/06/22
  6. Fish. Approximation of FGH with arrow notation 2023-12-05.
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