From e to eternity

摘要

When it comes to numbers, some are more enigmatic than others. Just ask Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt. In 2004 the company announced it was aiming to raise $2,718,281,828 from the first sale of its shares. While the exactness of the figure left many perplexed, mathematicians nodded knowingly. They recognised the figure as one of the most important numbers in mathematics, the number known as e expressed in billions of dollars.