Meaning of googol | Babel Free

Definitions

The number 10¹⁰⁰, or ten to the power of a hundred. Equivalent to ten duotrigintillion (short scale), or ten sexdecilliard (long scale).

Equivalents

Examples

“Words of wisdom are spoken by children at least as often as by scientists. The name⟳ "googol" was invented by a child (Dr. Kasner's nine-year-old nephew) who was asked to think⟳ up a name⟳ for a very big number⟳, namely, 1 with a hundred zeros after it. He was very certain that this number⟳ was not infinite, and therefore equally certain that it had to have⟳ a name⟳. […] A googolplex is much bigger than a googol, much bigger than a googol times a googol. A googol times a googol would be 1 with 200 zeros, whereas a googolplex is one with a googol of zeros. You will get⟳ some idea of the size of this very large but finite number⟳ from the fact that there would not be enough room to write⟳ it, if you went to the farthest star, touring all the nebulae and putting down zeros every inch of the way.”

“For example, in considering all the finite state grammars that use⟳ seven terminal symbols and seven auxiliary symbols (states), [...] he must test⟳ over a googol (10^100) candidates.”

“If the universe were packed solid with neutrons, say⟳, so there was no empty space anywhere, there would still only be about 10¹²⁸ particles in it, quite a bit more than a googol but trivially small compared to a googolplex.”

CEFR level