Googol

A googol is the large number 10¹⁰⁰. In decimal notation, it is written as the digit 1 followed by one hundred 0s:

The term was coined in 1920 by 9-year-old Milton Sirotta (1911–1981), nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner. Kasner popularized the concept in his 1940 book Mathematics and the Imagination. Other names for googol include ten duotrigintillion on the short scale, ten thousand sexdecillion on the long scale, or ten sexdecilliard on the Peletier long scale.

Size

A googol has no special significance in mathematics. However, it is useful when comparing with other very large quantities such as the number of subatomic particles in the visible universe or the number of hypothetical possibilities in a chess game. Kasner used it to illustrate the difference between an unimaginably large number and infinity, and in this role it is sometimes used in teaching mathematics. To give a sense of how big a googol really is, the mass of an electron, just under 6970100000000000000♠10⁻³⁰ kg, can be compared to the mass of the visible universe, estimated at between 7050100000000000000♠10⁵⁰ and 7060100000000000000♠10⁶⁰ kg. It is a ratio in the order of about 10⁸⁰ to 10⁹⁰, still much smaller than the value of a googol.

Google (disambiguation)

Google Inc. is an American multinational corporation specializing in Internet-related services and products.

Google(s) or Googel may also refer to:

Google Inc.

Fictional characters

Other uses

See also