A Reddit post from user Accendil on the r/theydidthemath community.

Posted on December 31, 2014
https://redd.it/2qxgxw

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I've been a lover of IP addressing for many years, since I was in high school. I always found it funny how IPv4 had so few addresses because of the unexpected take off of the "internet".

I then started looking in to IPv6 and this was my first foray into mega numbers which lead me down a slippery slope of Googolplexes and Infinity but IPv6 is my first love. Here is some info related to IP addressing (heavily rounded for ease of viewing):

IPv4 = 2^32
4,290,000,000
| | | Hundreds
| | Thousands
| Millions
Billions

IPv6 = 2^128
340,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
| | | | | | | | | | | | Hundreds
| | | | | | | | | | | Thousands
| | | | | | | | | | Millions
| | | | | | | | | Billions
| | | | | | | | Trillions
| | | | | | | Quadrillions
| | | | | | Quintillions
| | | | | Sextillion
| | | | Septillions
| | | Octillion
| | Nonillion
| Decillion
Undecillion


Comparison to humans:

1.1. Estimated population of Earth (~2014)
7,210,000,000

1.2. Average number of molecules in an average human body
156,000,000,000,000

1.3. Average number of atoms in an average human body 5,940,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

1.4. Estimated number of atoms in the current human race 42,800,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000


Comparison to things:

2.1. All the grains of sand on Earth
7,500,000,000,000,000,000

2.2. All the stars in the universe
70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

2.3. Diameter of the observable universe (in millimetres!!) 92,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000


Side-by-side comparison to humans:

v6 340,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
1.1 7,210,000,000
1.2 156,000,000,000,000
1.3 5,940,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
1.4 42,800,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
| | | |
| Octillions | Billions
Undecillions Trillions

This means we can give about 7 IPv6 addresses to each atom in the entire human race! Or, you could give each person Earth right now this many IPv6 addresses:

47,261,439,850,130,342,147,690,917,698
|
Octillion


Side-by-side comparison to things:

v6 340,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
2.1 | 7,500,000,000,000,000,000
2.2 | 70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
2.3 | 92,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
| | | |
Undecillions| | Quintillions
| Sextillions
Octillions

You could therefore give each grain of sand this many IPv6 addresses:

45,300,000,000,000,000,000
|
Quintillion

Or even more magnificently, this means you can give every millimetre from one side of the universe to the opposite side of the universe in a straight line about 3.6 billion IPv6 addresses... every... millimetre...

...aaaand now my head hurts so I'll leave it there.


u/accendil on r/theydidthemath
https://redd.it/2qxgxw

... No. of IPv6 Addresses: 340,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Northern Realms (1:229/664)

Re: Just how big is IPv6?
By: Jay Harris to All on Mon Dec 23 2024 07:11 am

Or even more magnificently, this means you can give every millimetre from one side of the universe to the opposite side of the universe in a straight line about 3.6 billion IPv6 addresses... every... millimetre...

So what you're saying is that IPv6 was over-engineered. :-)
--
digital man (rob)

Sling Blade quote #22:
Karl: I don't reckon you have to go with women to be a good father to a boy. Norco, CA WX: 69.2°F, 42.0% humidity, 1 mph WNW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs --- SBBSecho 3.23-Linux
* Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (1:103/705)

Hello Rob,

On Mon, Dec 23 2024 16:14:40 -0600, you wrote ..

So what you're saying is that IPv6 was over-engineered. :-)

Maybe at some point we will be able to convince our atoms to each own an IPv6 address? :)

Regards,
Nick

... He who laughs last, thinks slowest.
--- SBBSecho 3.23-Linux
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (1:154/700)

On 23 Dec 2024, Rob Swindell said the following...

Or even more magnificently, this means you can give every millimetre fr one side of the universe to the opposite side of the universe in a stra line about 3.6 billion IPv6 addresses... every... millimetre...

So what you're saying is that IPv6 was over-engineered. :-)

"640K ought to be enough for anybody" -- Bill Gates*

"2^128 addresses ought to be enough for anybody" -- The IPv6 engineers, probably


* Bill Gates denies making 1981 comment about limits of RAM needs, despite popular legend:
https://tinyurl.com/bdwnbhjy

... 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Northern Realms (1:229/664)