A "googol" is 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 digit one followed by one hundred zeros, also written as 10 to the 100th power). The founders of the Google search engine named their company after this number but changed the spelling slightly.
Thanks for this new piece of knowledge.A "googol" is 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 digit one followed by one hundred zeros, also written as 10 to the 100th power). The founders of the Google search engine named their company after this number but changed the spelling slightly.
I had never heard this before. I would say it's rather arcane.Is it commonly known to many people? Or just a rare knowledge?
That's probably true, although it should be said that learning the word "googol" is not part of a mathematician's training. It's just a piece of trivia for mathematicians too.I think pretty much only mathematicians and trivia nerds would immediately recognize "googol." :-D
:shock:The notation is explained here.
Yes, it's that big!:shock:
I couldn't have put it better myself.It's quite natural to think about shorthand exponentiation. It's called tetration. Shorthand tetration is pentation and this is the operation I used to write my number.
I couldn't have put it better myself.