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.