[ETL]

Wouldn’t the universe at the end of the inflationary period still be only very small? Surely, the inflationary theory doesn’t posit that the universe grew to billions of light years across in 10^32 seconds?

First, that's 10 to the MINUS 32. ie 10^ -32. Humongous difference. 64 zeros (64 powers of 10!) :)

Second, if I recall correctly (too lazy to check right now), I believe the theory states that the universe grew to the size of a grapefruit following the near-infinitely brief supposed inflationary period.

[dangus]

Yes, thanks... I meant to 10^(-32). Otherwise, it wouldn’t seem so bizarre (unless you REALLY think in pure math).

But if we’re only talking about a grapefruit-sized universe, how does the inflationary theory explain away the universe being almost 4 times the radius of how far matter could travel at the speed of light.