Googol Day - April 2

Today is Googol Day, when we celebrate the googol, the number represented as 1 followed by 100 zeroes, or 10^100, or 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 number wasn't created for a mathematically important reason. Instead it was the invention of a 9 year old kid in 1920 named Milton Sirotta, though his mathematician uncle, Edward Kasner, would go on to popularize it. We celebrate Googol Day today because Kasner was born on this date in 1878.

Related to the googol is the googolplex, the number represented as 1 followed by googol zeroes, or 10^googol. (Writing this number out would exceed the capabilities of my computer - or any other - computer.)

If you like the idea of ridiculously large numbers, this holiday is for you.



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