Googol

The number

having digits. This is about times larger than the estimated number of atoms in the Universe. In spite of this large size, such numbers can be worked with on modern (1998) networks of computers. See, e.g., [a1] for the factorization of the -digit number into two prime factors of and digits, respectively.

The number followed by a googol of zeros is called the googolplex.

The game of googol is a betting game that is equivalent to the secretary problem. It dates from around 1958 and is described in [a2]. Its name derives from the fact that it does not matter how large the numbers are that are chosen in the game.

References

[a1]	P. Montgomery, S. Cavallar, H. te Riele, "A new world record for the special number field sieve factoring method" CWI Quaterly , 10 : 2 (1997) pp. 105–107
[a2]	M. Gardner, "New mathematical diversions from Scientific Amer." , Simon&Schuster (1966) pp. 35–36; 41–43