Which is bigger, or ?
is bigger: = 5.05447 × and = 3.42718 × .
How to work it out
- 1
Compute both exactly: = 505447028499293771 and = 34271896307633.
- 2
So is bigger.
- 3
The reason: taking logs, against is the same as against . The function rises until and falls afterwards. Both 11 and 17 are past e, where the function is decreasing, so the larger exponent loses and > .
LaTeX source of the formulas on this page
\[ 11^{17} = 5.05447\times 10^{17}\ >\ 17^{11} = 34271896307633 \]
\[ \frac{\ln 11}{11}\ >\ \frac{\ln 17}{17} \]Questions
Which is bigger, or ?
is bigger: = 5.05447 × and = 3.42718 × .