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Definition A googol equals to the number  , that is, a one followed by one hundred zeros. A googolplex is is ten raised to the power of a googol, i.e.,
 .
This is already a huge number. For instance, it is more than the number of atoms in the known universe. A googoplex is even larger. In fact, since a googolplex has a googol number of zeros in its decimal representation, a googoplex has more digits than there are atoms in our universe. Thus, even if all matter in the universe were at disposal, it would not be possible to write down the decimal representation of a googolplex [1].
- A googol is approximately the factorial of
 . The only prime factors in a googol and a googolplex are  and  [1].
- Using Stirling's formula we can approximate the factorial of a googol to obtain
- A googoplex plus one is not a prime. One factor is 316912650057057350374175801344000001 [5].
The googol was created by the American mathematician Edward Kasner (1878-1955) [4] in [2] to illustrate the difference between an unimaginably large number and infinity. The name 'googol' was supposedly coined by Kasner's nine-year-old nephew Milton Sirotta in 1938 when asked to give a name for a huge number. The name googol was perhaps influenced by the comic strip character Barney Google [1,3]. The name of the search engine google was inspired by the number googol [6].
- 1
- Wikipedia's entry on googol.
- 2
- Kasner, Edward&Newman, James Roy,Mathematics and the Imagination, (New York, NY, U SA: Simon and Schuster, 1967; Dover Pubns, April 2001; London: Penguin, 1940, ISBN 0486417034).
- 3
- Douglas Harper's Etymology online dictionary, Googol 12/2003.
- 4
- Wikipedia's entry on Edward Kasner.
- 5
- Robert Munafo, web page on large numbers.
- 6
- Google corporate information: Google Milestones.
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Cross-references: infinity, factor, prime, plus, Stirling's formula, prime factors, factorial, digits, representation, even, atoms, googolplex, hundred, number
There are 2 references to this entry.
This is version 15 of googol, born on 2002-02-22, modified 2007-07-28.
Object id is 2456, canonical name is Googol.
Accessed 33291 times total.
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Pending Errata and Addenda
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