I remember playing with my calculator when I was young. I really liked big numbers so I'd punch big numbers like $20^{30}$ to see how big it really is.
On such a quest, I did observe that $20^{30}$ is greater than the value of $30^{20}$. In fact, in many cases, I found that $n^m>m^n$ if $m>n$.
Is this a general fact? If so, can it be proved?
Best Answer
For a positive integer $m$, consider the function $f(x)=m^x/x^m$. And $g(x)=\ln f(x)=x\ln m-m\ln x$.
Then $$g'(x)=\ln m-\frac mx$$ which is positive for $x>m/\ln m$. Then $g$ is increasing in $(m/\ln m,\infty)$. For $m>e$ we have $m>m/\ln m$ and $g(x)>0$ for $x>m$. Then, as it has been said in comments,
$$n>m>e\implies m^n>n^m$$