Today, we can connect everything in life to numbers: from the software of the phone you use in your hand, to how much gas the car you drive burns per kilometer or counting money. When we say number, the first natural numbers or numbers come to mind for all of us.
We use numbers in many subjects, such as the ones we mentioned above. When you think of numbers, which number comes to mind the most? 1,000? 100,000? 1,000,000? Have you ever wondered how numbers are read as zeros are added? Because most of us know numbers up to the billion? So, how are numbers read when zero is added after billions?
Huge numbers you will hear for the first time:
- 1,000: Thousand
- 1,000,000: Million
- 1,000,000,000: Billion
- 1,000,000,000,000: Trillion
- 1 (15 zeros): Quadrillion
- 1 (18 zeros): quintillion
- 1 (21 zeros): Sectionilion
- 1 (24 zeros): Septillion
- 1 (27 zeros): Octyllion
- 1 (30 zeros): Nonillion
- 1 (33 zeros): Decillion
- 1 (36 zeros): Undecillion
- 1 (39 zeros): Dodecillion
- 1 (42 zeros): Tredecillion
- 1 (45 zeros): Kattuordecillion
- 1 (48 zeros): Kendecillion
- 1 (51 zeros): Sexdecillion
- 1 (54 zeros): Septendecillion
- 1 (57 zeros): Octodecillion
- 1 (60 zeros): Novemdesillion
- 1 (63 zeros): Vigintillion
- 1 (66 zeros): Unvigintillion
- 1 (69 zeros): Dovigintillion
- 1 (72 zeros): Trevigintillion
- 1 (75 zeros): Kattuorvigintillion
- 1 (78 zeros): Kenvigintillion
- 1 (81 zeros): Sexvigintillion
- 1 (84 zeros): Septenvigintillion
- 1 (87 zeros): Octavigintillion
- 1 (90 zeros): Novemvigintillion
- 1 (93 zeros): Trigintillion
- 1 (96 zeros): Untrigintillion
- 1 (99 zeros): Dotrigintillion
- 1 (102 zeros): Tresintillion
- 1 (105 zeros): Katortricintillion
- 1 (108 zeros): Kenchatricintillion
- 1 (111 zeros): Sextriccintillion
- 1 (114 zeros): Septentricintillion
- 1 (117 zeros): Octotricintillion
- 1 (120 zeros): Noventricintillion
- 1 (123 zeros): Catracintillion
- 1 (153 zeros): Kenkacintillion
- 1 (183 zeros): Sexacintillion
- 1 (213 zeros): Septacintillion
- 1 (243 zeros): Octocintillion
- 1 (273 zeros): Nonacintillion
- 1 (303 zeros): Centillion
- 1 (333 zeros): Decicentillion
- 1 (366 zeros): Anvicinticentilion
- 1 (393 zeros): Tricintacentillion
- 1 (423 zeros): Katracintacentillion
- 1 (453 zeros): Kenkacintacentillion
- 1 (483 zeros): Sexacintacentillion
- 1 (513 zeros): Septacintacentillion
- 1 (543 zeros): Octocintacentillion
- 1 (573 zeros): Nonacintacentillion
- 1 (603 zeros): Dusentillion
- 1 (903 zeros): Tresentillion
- 1(1203 zero): Katrincentillion
- 1 (1503 zeros): Kencentillion
- 1 (1803 zero): Sessentillion
- 1 (2103 zeros): Septincentillion
- 1 (2403 zeros): Octincentillion
- 1 (2703 zeros): Noncentilion
- 1 (3003 zero): Million
Now you will say, ‘Webtekno, what did you do?’, you are right. We realize that so many zeros are difficult to read. But there is a method people use to remember the names of so many zeros: grouping the zeros by threes. For example, you can keep in mind how many zeros are in 1 trillion as ‘4 groups of 3 0’s’.
‘So how can we write more easily when we write?’ If you ask, there is a way: Exponents. For example, when you want to use 1 quintillion in mathematical operations, you can express it as ‘1018’. The 18 above the number indicates how many zeros it contains.
An interesting fact about multi-zero numbers: Did you know where Google got its name?
You don’t know the search engine and technology company Google. Did you know that Google’s name also comes from a number of zeros? Of course, the pronunciation of the number is slightly different, but Google’s name comes from the number ‘googol’ and ‘googolplex’.
The googol number has 100 zeros and is expressed as 10100. The googol number is a measurable number and is often used to express large quantities. In other words, it is not unreasonable for the world’s most popular search engine to get such a name.
The term googol was first used by the American mathematician Edward Kasner in his 1940 book “Mathematics and the Imagination”. According to the book, when Kasner asks his 9-year-old nephew, Milton Sirotta, what to name this ridiculously long number, his niece mutters ‘googol’ and the name pops up.
So why does it matter if the googol number is less than a centillion? Simply put, a googol is used to describe a googolplex. A googolplex is 10 times the confusing number of googol. The number of googolplexes is so large that it does not even have a circulating area. Some mathematicians say that the number of googolplex even exceeds the total number of atoms in the universe.
A number even bigger than the googolplex: ‘Graham’s Count’
In fact, googolplex isn’t even the largest number ever defined. Mathematicians and scientists have created a number called “Graham’s number” that is even larger than the googolplex. You need to have a math degree just to start understanding this number. But let’s try to explain.
This number is much larger than many other large numbers such as Skewes number and Moser number, both of which are much larger than a googolplex. As with these numbers, even the observable universe, which is huge when we assume that each digit occupies a Planck volume, possibly the smallest measurable area, is too small to contain a digital representation of the Graham number. It can’t even be a number of digits.
Graham’s number originated in 1977 when popular science writer Martin Gardner used the Ramsey theory he was working on as a simplified explanation of the upper bounds of a problem in mathematics. In 1977, Graham’s number was the largest specific positive integer ever used in a mathematical proof.
In fact, there are numbers larger than Graham’s, but since our topic in this article is numbers with zeros, let’s not deviate too much from the subject. We gave this example just to say that there are numbers greater than googolplex.
We talked about how numbers with multiple zeros are read, how they can be easily remembered, we informed that Google’s name comes from numbers with many zeros, and we also mentioned the existence of much larger numbers. Thus, we have come to the end of our article. What do you think about multi-zero numbers? Please do not forget to share your thoughts with us in the comments.