googolplexes

Numeral

googolplex (plural googolplexes)

1. The number 10^(10¹⁰⁰) or 10^( text )googol, ten to the power of a googol.
   • The name "googol" was invented by a child (Dr. Kasner's nine-year-old nephew) who was asked to think up a name for a very big number, namely, 1 with a hundred zeros after it. He was very certain that this number was not infinite, and therefore equally certain that it had to have a name. At the same...1940, Edward Kasner, James [Roy] Newman, “New Names for Old”, in Mathematics and the Imagination, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →OCLC, page 23
2. (figuratively) A countable number.
   • Inflationary theory suggests that the entirety of space is vastly larger. Quantum theory suggests that there are many different copies of space of the same basic kind as ours (same laws of physics). String theory further suggests that there may be many different kinds of space. This whole...2010, Don N[elson] Page, “Our Place in the Vast Universe”, in Melville Y. Stewart, editor, Science and Religion in Dialogue, volume I, Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell, →ISBN, page 371
3. (US, nonstandard, rare) An infinitesimally small portion of land, defined for legal purposes.
   • To a mathematician, a googolplex is the figure 1 followed by a googol of zeroes (a googol being the figure 1 followed by a mere 100 zeroes). To a real-estate man, it's one infinitesimal parcel of a plot of land.1962, Newsweek: The International Newsmagazine, volume 60, New York, N.Y.: Newsweek LLC, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 54