Conference rusure::math

		      100
	A Google is 10   , which is a largish number having 100 zeroes.
				    Google
	Then there's Googleplex = 10      , which is written with a 1

	followed by a *Google* of zeroes!  Imagine how long it would take

	just to write down this monster; if you could write a zero on each

	proton and neutron in the universe, you'd still need another

	sextillion universes before you finish.

	Those numbers are tiny compared to some of the
	integers that you could define using, say,
	Ackermann's function.  And even those larger
	numbers are tiny compared to some of the ones
	that you could define using more obscure
	definitions.

	However, these are now numbers that take many
	words to define, not just one word, since they
	don't have standard one-word names like "googol"
	and "googolplex".

	(Not yet, that is.)

	Dan

    What about omega or epsilon which describe orders of infinity?
    
    Or aleph null?
    
    Wook

	It depends on what they meant by "number" I guess.  I
	was answering as if that meant nonnegative integer.

	Dan

    
    THE BEST NAME IS INFINITE...NO END
    

For any number prefix N, an "N-illion" stands for the number written as one
with 3N+3 zeroes.  For N=1,2,3,4,6,7,10,20, and 100, the number prefixes
are:
	prefix	N  number of zeroes
	mi-	1	6
	bi-	2	9
	tri-	3	12
	quadri-	4	15
	quint-	5	18
	sex-	6	21
	sept-	7	24
	oct-	8	27
	non-	9	30
	dec-	10	33
	vigint-	20	63
	trigint-30	93
	cent-	100	303

(there are prefixes between dec- and vigint-, which I forget offhand)

Now note that 1 centillion >> 1 googol = 10 trigint-duillion.

If N is a number prefix, then N-plex is the number written as one followed
by N zeroes.  It's been proposed that Greek prefixes be used with this
notation, so we may have a dekaplex = 10^10, kiloplex = 10^1000,
megaplex = 10^(10^6), teraplex = 10^(10^12), and googolplex = 10^(10^100).

    Re .6
    
    In English 1 billion = 1 million squared = 1,000,000,000,000.
    
    The American meaning is becoming more common in England, though.
    
    Peter

>    Re .6
>    
>    In English 1 billion = 1 million squared = 1,000,000,000,000.
>    
>    The American meaning is becoming more common in England, though.

	I'd have said that the old English billion (= 10^12) was almost
entirely supplanted by the American version in the UK, due to pressures of:
		(i) scientific standardization
		(ii) finance (English needed a word for 10^9)
		(iii) general Americanization

	Here in France, billion is still 10^12, since there always has
been a word for 10^9 (milliard).   Interestingly, a French "milliardaire"
is about as rich as a British millionaire.   This is because of the quaint
French habit of counting *large* sums of money in *centimes* rather than 
francs.   Then 10 francs are about �1.   This in turn is due to the race
memory that the French have of the old franc, which corresponds to today's
centime = 1/100 new franc.

	According to my colleague, the word "billiard" does not mean 10^15
in French.   Disappointing.

Regards,
Andrew.

    Re .7
    
    (i) In science 'ten to the nine' (or twelve) is normally used rather
    than a billion.
    
    (ii) On the radio this morning I heard both thousands of millions
    and billions used in reference to money. Also, according to Call
    My Bluff, milliard is an English word.
    
    (iii) This is the only real preasure as I see it for the meaning
    of billion to have changed.
    
    Peter