| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
A googol is "approximately" equal to the factorial of 70, and its only prime factors are 2 and 5. In binary it would take up 333 bitThis article is about the unit of information, see Bit (disambiguation) for other meanings. A bit (abbreviated b is the most basic information unit used in computing and information theory. A single bit (short for b inary dig it is a zero or a one, or a ts.
The googol is of no particular significance in mathematicsMathematics is commonly defined as the study of patterns of structure, change, and space; more informally, one might say it is the study of "figures and numbers". In the formalist view, it is the investigation of axiomatically defined abstract structures, nor does it have any practical uses. Kasner created it to illustrate the difference between an unimaginably large number and infinityInfinity is a word carrying a number of different meanings in mathematics, philosophy, theology and everyday life. In theology, for instance in the work of Duns Scotus, the infinity of God carries the sense not so much of quantity (leading to the question, and in this role it is sometimes used in mathematics teaching.
A googol can be written in conventional notation, as follows:
Using the short scale, a Googol is equal to ten duotrigintillion.
A googolplexA googolplex is the number , that is, 1 followed by a googol zeroes. The term googol was coined by the nephew of mathematician Edward Kasner. Googolplex was coined by Kasner to define an especially large number by extension from his nephew's idea. A googo is 1 followed by a googol of zeroes, or ten raised to the power of a googol: = .
A googol is greater than the number of particles in the known universe, which has been variously estimated from 1072 up to 1087. Since a googol is the number of digits in a googolplex, it would therefore not be possible to write down or store the digits of a googolplex in decimal notation, even if all the matter in the known universe were converted into paper and ink or disk drives.
Googol was the answer to the million- pound question on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire when Major Charles Ingram attempted to defraud the quiz show on 10 September 2001.
If we drew a regular polygon with a googol sides that was 1027 times the size of the known universe, it would still appear circular, even on the scale of a planck length.