Googol
/ˈɡuːɡəl/noun
The number 10¹⁰⁰, equal to 1 followed by 100 zeros.
Did you know?Mathematician Edward Kasner asked his nine-year-old nephew Milton Sirotta to name 10¹⁰⁰, and Milton spontaneously suggested “googol.”
Etymological Timeline
1938
English
googol
“A newly coined name for the number 10¹⁰⁰, invented by Milton Sirotta, the young nephew of mathematician Edward Kasner.”
1938
English
googol
“Introduced publicly by Edward Kasner in discussions of extremely large numbers and popularized in his book Mathematics and the Imagination.”
20th Century
English
googol
“Adopted as a mathematical term for one followed by one hundred zeros.”
Late 20th Century
English
“The company name Google was chosen as an intentional play on googol, suggesting vast quantities of information.”
Modern English
English
googol
“A standard mathematical noun describing 10¹⁰⁰.”
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