My preschool daughter asked me how to say the number 999,999,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.  She was referring to general numbers and not scientific nomenclature, so I was thinking million, billion, trillion, but what comes after that? Quadrillion?  Yes, but then what?  So I did some research on large numbers, the “illions”, and found it quite fascinating.   As a matter of fact, there is a number named Googol, which has 100 zeros, e.g., 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Back to my daughter’s question, the answer is nine hundred and ninety nine octillion, nine hundred and ninety nine septillion.

Here is a handy list of large numbers and how they are named:

Million has 6 zeros  1,000,000

Billion has 9 zeros  1,000,000,000

Trillion has 12 zeros  1,000,000,000,000

Quadrillion has 15 zeros  1,000,000,000,000,000

Quintillion has 18 zeros  1,000,000,000,000,000,000

Sextillion has 21 zeros  1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Septillion has 24 zeros  1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Octillion has 27 zeros  1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Nonillion has 30 zeros  1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Decillion has 33 zeros  1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Undecillion has 36 zeros  1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Duodecillion has 39 zeros  1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Tredecillion has 42 zeros  1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Quattuordecillion has 45 zeros  1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Quindecillion has 48 zeros  1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Sexdecillion has 51 zeros  1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Septendecillion has 54 zeros  1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Octodecillion has 57 zeros  1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Novemdecillion has 60 zeros  1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Vigintillion has 63 zeros  1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Googol has 100 zeros  10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Centillion has 303 zeros (except in Britain, where it has 600 zeros)  1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

And lastly, a Googolplex has googols of zeros.

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