Googol

Googol

A googol is the large number 10100, that is, the digit 1 followed by 100 zeros:

10,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000

The term was coined in 1938[1] by 9-year-old Milton Sirotta (1929–1981), nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner. Kasner popularized the concept in his book Mathematics and the Imagination (1940).

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.

A googol has no particular significance in mathematics, but is useful when comparing with other very large quantities such as the number of subatomic particles in the visible universe or the number of hypothetically possible chess moves. Edward 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.

Contents

In popular culture

See also

References

  1. ^ Kasner, Edward and Newman, James R. (1940). Mathematics and the Imagination. Simon and Schuster, New York. ISBN 0486417034. 
  2. ^ Brin, S. and Page, L. (1998). The anatomy of a large-scale hypertextual Web search engine. Computer Networks and ISDN Systems, 30(1-7):107–117

External links



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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Googol — [ˈguːgɔl] ist eine englischsprachige Bezeichnung für die Zahl 10100. Das entspricht einer 1 mit 100 Nullen, ausgeschrieben: 10.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • googol — 1940, in Mathematics and the Imagination, a layman s book on mathematics written by U.S. mathematicians Edward Kasner (1878 1955) and James R. Newman, the word supposedly coined a year or two before by Kasner s 9 (or 8 ) year old nephew (unnamed… …   Etymology dictionary

  • googol — ☆ googol [go͞o′gôl΄, go͞o′gäl΄ ] n. [arbitrary use by E. Kasner (1878 1955), U.S. mathematician, of a child s word] 1. the number 1 followed by 100 zeros; 10100 2. any very large number …   English World dictionary

  • googol —    a unit of quantity equal to 10100 (1 followed by 100 zeroes).    The googol was invented by the American mathematician Edward Kasner (1878 1955) in 1938. According to the story, Kasner asked his nephew Milton Sirotta, who was then 8 years old …   Dictionary of units of measurement

  • googol — [20] There are comparatively few ‘new’ words in the English language – that is, words which have not been made up from combinations of old words, or borrowed from other languages, but have sprung up as entirely new growths – but this is one of… …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • googol — UK [ˈɡuːɡɒl] / US [ˈɡuɡɔl] noun [countable] Word forms googol : singular googol plural googols the number 10100 …   English dictionary

  • googol — [20] There are comparatively few ‘new’ words in the English language – that is, words which have not been made up from combinations of old words, or borrowed from other languages, but have sprung up as entirely new growths – but this is one of… …   Word origins

  • Googol — Gogol (nombre) Pour les articles homonymes, voir Gogol (homonymie). En mathématiques, le gogol est le nombre dont la représentation décimale s écrit avec le chiffre 1, suivi de 100 zéros (10100). La version anglaise de ce nom… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Googol — Un googol (pronunciado aproximadamente como gugol) es un número largo 10100, es decir, la cifra uno seguida de cien ceros. El término fue acuñado en 1938 por Milton Sirotta, un niño de nueve años, sobrino del matemático americano Edward Kasner.… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • googol —   n. ten raised to the hundredth power (10100 power of a googol (10 10 100).   ).    ♦ googolplex, n. ten raised to the …   Dictionary of difficult words

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