Monday, September 25, 2006

"Googol" not Google

Googol: A googol is the large number 10^100 (10 to the power of 100), that is, the digit 1 followed by one hundred zeros (in decimal representation). One way of grasping its size is that it is equivalent to multiplying the product of 1 million by 1 million 15 times, then further multiplying that by ten thousand. The term was coined in 1920 by nine-year-old Milton Sirotta, nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner. Kasner popularized the concept in his book Mathematics and the Imagination. Googolplex The Googolplex is 10^googol (10 to the power of googol) Since a googolplex is one followed by a googol zeroes, it would not be possible to write down or store a googolplex in decimal notation, even if all the matter in the known universe were converted into paper and ink or disk drives. What about "Google"? Google is a play on the word googol. Google Inc. refers to its headquarters as the "Googleplex". Welcome to Googleplex :-)

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