googol

[goo-gawl, -gol, -guh l] /ˈgu gɔl, -gɒl, -gəl/
noun
1.
a number that is equal to 1 followed by 100 zeros and expressed as 10 100 .
Origin of googol
1935-40; introduced by U.S. mathematician Edward Kasner (1878-1955), whose nine-year-old nephew allegedly invented it
Can be confused
goggle, Google, googol.
Examples from the web for googol
  • It spends all but the first googol years or so in that state.
  • The many responses so far to this thread likely prove that there are a googol of paths.
British Dictionary definitions for googol

googol

/ˈɡuːɡɒl; -ɡəl/
noun
1.
the number represented as one followed by 100 zeros (10100)
Word Origin
C20: coined by E. Kasner (1878–1955), American mathematician
Word Origin and History for googol
n.

1940, in "Mathematics and the Imagination," a layman's book on mathematics written by U.S. mathematicians Edward Kasner (1878-1955) and James R. Newman, the word supposedly coined a year or two before by Kasner's 9- (or 8-) year-old nephew (unnamed in the book's account of the event), when asked for a name for an enormous number. Perhaps influenced by comic strip character Barney Google. Googolplex coined at the same time, in the same way.

googol in Science
googol
  (g'gôl', g'gəl)   
The number 10 raised to the 100th power (10100), written out as 1 followed by 100 zeros.
googol in Technology

mathematics
The number represented in base-ten by a one with a hundred zeroes after it.
According to Webster's Dictionary, the name was coined in 1938 by Milton Sirotta, the nine-year-old nephew of American mathematician, Edward Kasner.
See also googolplex.
(2001-03-29)