A googol is the very large number 1010010^{100}10100, which means it is a 1 followed by 100 zeros. The name "googol" was coined in 1920 by Milton Sirotta, the 9-year-old nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner. Kasner popularized the concept in his 1940 book, "Mathematics and the Imagination." The name "googol" may have been inspired by a contemporary comic strip character named Barney Google. The googol is extremely large, but there are infinitely larger numbers, including the googolplex, which is 10googol10^{\text{googol}}10googol, or a 1 followed by a googol of zeros.
Regarding alphabetizing the word names for numbers from one to one thousand, it involves ordering number words like "eight," "eleven," and "one" alphabetically, which is unrelated to the size or naming of very large numbers like a googol. In summary:
- A googol = 1010010^{100}10100 (1 followed by 100 zeros).
- Named by a child, Milton Sirotta, in 1920.
- Popularized by mathematician Edward Kasner.
- The name might be inspired by "Barney Google" from a comic.
- Googolplex = 10googol10^{\text{googol}}10googol, vastly larger than a googol.
