Yes, googolplex is much bigger than a googol.
Complete answer
Yes, googolplex is much bigger than a googol. A googol is defined as 10 to the power of 100, or a one followed by 100 zeros. Googolplex is defined as 10 to the power of googol, or 10 to the power of 10 to the power of 100. This means that googolplex is a one followed by an incomprehensible number of zeros, far surpassing the magnitude of a measly googol.
As Carl Sagan famously explained, “there are only so many ways to describe the bigness of numbers.” However, here are some interesting facts to help convey the magnitude of googolplex:
- If you were to write out a googolplex in standard form (i.e. with all the zeros), it would take up more than the observable universe.
- Mathematician Edward Kasner, who coined the term “googol,” asked his nine-year-old nephew Milton Sirotta to come up with a name for the number 10 to the power of 100. Milton supposedly came up with the name “googol,” and Edward added “plex” to come up with the term “googolplex.”
- Googol and googolplex are often used to describe the theoretical possibilities in fields like physics and computer science. For example, the number of possible chess games is estimated to be less than a googol, but the number of possible positions on a Go board is estimated to be much larger than a googolplex.
- Despite its massive size, googolplex is still considered a finite number in math. However, it is so large that it has little practical use in most areas of mathematics or science.
To provide a visual representation of the magnitude of googolplex, here is a table comparing its size to some other important numbers:
| Number | Written Out | Approximate Size |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | One | Small |
| 10^3 | One Thousand | Thousands |
| 10^6 | One Million | Millions |
| 10^9 | One Billion | Billions |
| 10^12 | One Trillion | Trillions |
| 10^100 | Googol | Incomprehensibly Large |
| 10^10^100 | Googolplex | Even Larger |
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Numberphile discusses the enormous size of a googol, which is 1 followed by 100 zeros, larger than the number of particles in the universe. However, a googolplex, which is 10 raised to the power of a googol, is so large that it cannot be written down even if every particle in the universe were used for it. A person or object occupying a meter cubed of space would have roughly 10 to the power of 10 to the power of 70 possible states, much smaller than a googolplex. If the universe were googolplex meters across, there would be repeating volumes of one meter cubed and eventually, an entire observable universe would repeat, highlighting the vastness of the number.
There are other points of view available on the Internet
Or a googol googol? Almost inevitably, at this point someone proffers an even bigger number, “googolplex.” It is true that the word “googolplex” was coined to mean a one followed by a googol zeros. It’s way bigger than a measly googol!
Moreover, people are interested
Secondly, How many times bigger is a googolplex than a googol?
The response is: This number was given the name googolplex and is defined as 10 to the power of a googol, or 1 followed by a googol zeros.
Is there any number bigger than googolplex?
As a response to this: (This might sound familiar, as Google was named after this number, though they got the spelling wrong.) Graham’s number is also bigger than a googolplex, which Milton initially defined as a 1, followed by writing zeroes until you get tired, but is now commonly accepted to be 10googol=10(10100).
How many zeros does a Googolplexianth have?
Answer to this: Written out in ordinary decimal notation, it is 1 followed by 10100 zeroes; that is, a 1 followed by a googol of zeroes.
Considering this, What comes after Quattuorvigintillion? Names of Large Numbers
| Name | Number |
|---|---|
| Quattuorvigintillion | 1 x 10 75 |
| Quinvigintillion | 1 x 10 78 |
| Sexvigintillion | 1 x 10 81 |
| Septenvigintillion | 1 x 10 84 |