Question below?

Question

However, mathematicians study symmetries in higher dimensions. In fact, E8 itself is 248-dimensional.

Today string theorists search for a theory of the universe by looking at E8 X E8.

The scientists said the magnitude of the E8 calculation invited comparison with the Human Genome Project.

While the human genome, which contains all the genetic information of a cell, is less than a gigabyte in size, the result of the E8 calculation, which contains all the information about E8, is 60 gigabytes in size, they said.

This is enough to store 45 days of continuous music in MP3-format. If written out on paper, the answer would cover an area the size of Manhattan.

This was from an article in Yahoo! news stating that some scientists and mathmaticians finally calculated the E8 galaxy structure thinga majigger.




My question is about the part where it talks about gigabytes.

I thought a gigabyte was like a measurement of computer memory...but then it says the E8 thing

but then it says the E8 thing was 60 gigabytes....and the human genome is one gigabyte...the heck!???

is there something im not understanding about gigabytes?

It also says E8 has 248 dimensions....what the hell....

heres a link to the story for people who are confused........
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070319/ts_alt_afp/ussciencemathematicsfrancegermany_070319121747

Answer 1

HUH?

Answer 2

A bit is the amount of space a character (like the letter A or the number 1) takes in a computer. 8 bits equals 1 byte. 1000 bytes equal 1 kilobyte. 1000 kilobytes equals 1 megabyte. 1000 megabytes equal 1 gigabyte. 1000 gigabytes equal 1 terabyte.
To 'write' the word "paper" in a computer may take 5 to 10 bits. It would take a piece of paper as big as Manhattan to write the equations by hand, and 60 gigabytes by computer. (sounds like that's a low number, I would guess a couple of terabytes)
The 248 dimensions are abstract and what we use to 'hold' numbers that don't quite fit. This is only on paper. It is not too complicated, actually, look up Linear Algebra on Wikipedia to get a simple read on this stuff.
Supersymmetry, or String Theory, so far, claim 11 dimensions in the universe. You are aware of the first 4, height, width, length, and time/space. After the Big Bang, the first thing that was created was matter and anti-matter (called smatter). We are aware of almost all of the matter, and most of the smatter went into another dimension. We also believe a lot of the gravity went into yet another dimension. Thats why the universe just keeps expanding. To look up info on the other dimensions, read "Supersymmetry" by Gordon Kane. He and Edward Witten (who wrote the foreword) are considered 2 of the best in this field.

Answer 3

This should help. The 60 gig is how much space it takes to store all the polynomials that form the group.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E8_(mathematics)