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I can't remember if I knew the word "googol" before I knew this story or not. I think I may have encountered it in World of Mathematics in high school. Or I may

by jordigh 11y ago

I can't remember if I knew the word "googol" before I knew this story or not. I think I may have encountered it in World of Mathematics in high school. Or I may be misremembering and making up a pretty story to make myself sound smarter than I am. Human memory is so weird sometimes.

arethuza 11y ago
I'm pretty sure Carl Sagan mentions both googol and googolplex in Cosmos.
- jjw1414 11y ago
  Most definitely. That's where I first heard the terms. Sagan also demonstrated the length of the number by rolling out a roll of toilet paper with a googolplex written on it. https://youtu.be/0lFQOmb6mVs https://youtu.be/0lFQOmb6mVs
chiph 11y ago
Funny datapoint - 1e100.net (a googol) is used by Google for some of their servers.
soylentcola 11y ago
I did know "googol" and "googolplex" but only by virtue of picking it up as trivia when I was a kid. Pretty sure it was a kid named Mike in grade school who enjoyed one-upping other kids on nerdy facts who told me it was "the biggest number". Then again, this was the same kid who later on told me that the actual biggest number was "inthidity". I have no idea why I remember this but it's just a memory that sticks out for some reason. He must've only heard the word "infinity" but not seen it written out because it wasn't like a speech impediment or anything. Later on I remember learning about the word/concept of infinity and realizing that must've been what Mike was talking about. Anyway, sorry for the grade school flashback. Just one of those things I haven't thought about in ages.
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radley 11y ago
I got it from Steve Martin & googlephonic sound (1979) which he describes as the highest possible number of speakers next to infinity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjjsz14hL48 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjjsz14hL48
GotAnyMegadeth 11y ago
I was taught what a googol was (with the correct spelling) 10 years ago when I was in year 10 at secondary school by my teacher Mrs Humble. I was sat in between Kaylee and Simon, it was summer. Also it was the correct answer for the final question of the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire episode where Major Ingram cheated to win £1M. I remember watching the documentary about that episode in a caravan in Wales and thinking "I could have won £1M!".
Chathamization 11y ago
At least in my elementary school, it was one of those pieces of trivia that the kids would latch on to and try to throw into conversations whenever they could. Like the words antidisestablishmentarianism or defenestrate. It'd be interesting to see how regional/generational these popular trivia trends are.
- sanderjd 11y ago
  Yep, I have one of those strong, vivid memories of my 7th grade math teacher telling us about it as one of those fun tidbits for the nerds to latch on to. I recognized it and thought it was clever when I came across the search engine a couple years later, but I thought the spelling was right.
dwpdwpdwpdwpdwp 11y ago
I loved the idea of a googol and a googolplex when I was a kid. I may also be remembering incorrectly that a googolplexplex meant a 1 with a googolplex zeros after it. There was also the notion of the word googolplexplexplex... (Appending a googol 'plex's to 'googol') Tidbit: my iPad tried to autocorrect 'googol' to 'Google'
mcherm 11y ago
Did you ever watch Cosmos with Carl Sagan? Because I am fairly sure that in one episode he covered googol (and googolplex).
hamburglar 11y ago
The word was at least pop-culture-accessible enough to have been a Simpsons gag (the "Springfield Googolplex" movie theaters) years before Google existed.

by jordigh 11y ago

arethuza 11y ago

I'm pretty sure Carl Sagan mentions both googol and googolplex in Cosmos.

jjw1414 11y ago
Most definitely. That's where I first heard the terms. Sagan also demonstrated the length of the number by rolling out a roll of toilet paper with a googolplex written on it. https://youtu.be/0lFQOmb6mVs https://youtu.be/0lFQOmb6mVs

chiph 11y ago

Funny datapoint - 1e100.net (a googol) is used by Google for some of their servers.

soylentcola 11y ago

I did know "googol" and "googolplex" but only by virtue of picking it up as trivia when I was a kid. Pretty sure it was a kid named Mike in grade school who enjoyed one-upping other kids on nerdy facts who told me it was "the biggest number". Then again, this was the same kid who later on told me that the actual biggest number was "inthidity". I have no idea why I remember this but it's just a memory that sticks out for some reason. He must've only heard the word "infinity" but not seen it written out because it wasn't like a speech impediment or anything. Later on I remember learning about the word/concept of infinity and realizing that must've been what Mike was talking about. Anyway, sorry for the grade school flashback. Just one of those things I haven't thought about in ages.

deleted 11y ago
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deleted 11y ago
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radley 11y ago

I got it from Steve Martin & googlephonic sound (1979) which he describes as the highest possible number of speakers next to infinity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjjsz14hL48 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjjsz14hL48

GotAnyMegadeth 11y ago

I was taught what a googol was (with the correct spelling) 10 years ago when I was in year 10 at secondary school by my teacher Mrs Humble. I was sat in between Kaylee and Simon, it was summer. Also it was the correct answer for the final question of the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire episode where Major Ingram cheated to win £1M. I remember watching the documentary about that episode in a caravan in Wales and thinking "I could have won £1M!".

Chathamization 11y ago

At least in my elementary school, it was one of those pieces of trivia that the kids would latch on to and try to throw into conversations whenever they could. Like the words antidisestablishmentarianism or defenestrate. It'd be interesting to see how regional/generational these popular trivia trends are.

sanderjd 11y ago
Yep, I have one of those strong, vivid memories of my 7th grade math teacher telling us about it as one of those fun tidbits for the nerds to latch on to. I recognized it and thought it was clever when I came across the search engine a couple years later, but I thought the spelling was right.

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwp 11y ago

I loved the idea of a googol and a googolplex when I was a kid. I may also be remembering incorrectly that a googolplexplex meant a 1 with a googolplex zeros after it. There was also the notion of the word googolplexplexplex... (Appending a googol 'plex's to 'googol') Tidbit: my iPad tried to autocorrect 'googol' to 'Google'

mcherm 11y ago

Did you ever watch Cosmos with Carl Sagan? Because I am fairly sure that in one episode he covered googol (and googolplex).

hamburglar 11y ago

The word was at least pop-culture-accessible enough to have been a Simpsons gag (the "Springfield Googolplex" movie theaters) years before Google existed.