Our name
A googol is 10 to the 100th power (which is 1 followed by 100 zeros). When mathematicians were faced with the task to define an eternity within the mathematical definitions, they agreed on the (at the time) largest number of the smallest known (at the time) particles, in the known universe (again at the time). Then they rounded it off. A googol is larger than the number of elementary particles in the universe, which amount to only 10 to the 80th power. The term was invented by Milton Sirotta, the 9-year old nephew of mathematician Edward Kasner, who had asked his nephew what he thought such a large number should be called. Such a number, Milton apparently replied after a short time, could only be called something as silly as a "googol". The young child then defined an even larger number, a "googolplex", which is defined as a 1 followed by as many zeros you can write before getting tired. Googolplex is still the largest number outside of mathematical definitions.
To us at Googol, this story represents something very important. It is the creation of a grand innovation (i.e. a radically new mathematical number) yet, still letting a child give a name to such an important break-through.
If you would like to know more, please feel free to watch a googol explanation by mr Carl Sagan:
We thank mr Ulf Sandberg of grow partners for giving us the name in 1999. Just to think, what if we had kept the even sillier name we had first thought of?
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