Extremes

How Many Zeros In…?

Most of us are pretty confident with what to call numbers that end with three or six zeroes. After that, things can get a little fuzzy.

Part of the problem arises from the fact that some cultures use different names for the same number. English and Arabic-speaking countries tend to use the Short Scale, while Latin and continental Europe is enamored with the Long Scale. See this article for further explanation.

If we limit our discussion to the Short Scale, the following is the nomenclature for the primary sets of numbers:

Scientific
notation
American name (Short Scale)European name(Long Scale)Old-British name (Long Scale)
100OneOneOne
101TenTenTen
102HundredHundredHundred
103ThousandThousandThousand
104Ten thousandTen thousandTen thousand
105Hundred thousandHundred thousandHundred thousand
106MillionMiljoenMillion
109BillionMiljardThousand million
1012TrillionBiljoenBillion
1015QuadrillionquadriljoenThousand billion
1018QuintillionkwintiljoenTrillion
1021SextillionSekstiljoenThousand trillion
1024SeptillionSeptiljoenQuadrillion
1027OctillionOctillionThousand quadrillion
1030NonillionNie-miljoenQuintillion
1033DecillionDesilljoenThousand quintillion
1036UndecillionOndecillionSextillion
1039DuodecillionDuodecillionThousand sextillion
1042TredecillionTredecillionSeptillion
1045QuattuordecillionQuatttuor-DecillionThousand septillion
1048QuindecillionkwiljoenOctillion
1051SexdecillionSexdecillionThousand octillion
1054SeptendecillionSepten-DecillionNonillion
1057OctodecillionOctodecillionThousand nonillion
1060NovemdecillionNovemdecillionDecillion
1063VigintillionVigintillionThousand decillion
1066UnvigintillionUndecillionUndecillion
1069DuovigintillionUndecilliardThousand undecillion
1072TrevigintillionDuodecillionDuodecillion
1075QuattuorvigintillionDuodecilliardThousand duodecillion
1078QuinvigintillionTredecillionTredecillion
1081SexvigintillionTredecilliardThousand tredecillion
1084SeptenvigintillionQuattuordecillionQuattuordecillion
1087OctovigintillionQuattuordecilliardThousand quattuordecillion
1090NovemvigintillionQuindecillionQuindecillion
1093TrigintillionQuindecilliardThousand quindecillion
1096UntrigintillionSexdecillionSexdecillion
1099DuotrigintillionSexdecilliardThousand sexdecillion
10100GoogolGoogolGoogol
10102TretrigintillionSeptendecillionSeptendecillion
10105QuattuortrigintillionSeptendecilliardThousand septedecillion
10108QuintrigintillionOctodecillionOctodecillion
10111SextrigintillionOctodecilliardThousand octodecillion
10114SeptentrigintillionNovemdecillionNovemdecillion
10117OctotrigintillionNovemdecilliardThousand novemdecillion
10120NovemtrigintillionVigintillionVigintillion
10303CentillionCentillionThousand quinquagintillion
10googolGoogolplexGoogolplexGoogolplex
10googolplexGoogolplexianGoogolplexianGoogolplexian
10googolplexianGoogolplexianplexGoogolplexianplexGoogolplexianplex
10googolplexianplexGoogolplexianplexianGoogolplexianplexianGoogolplexianplexian

Of course, once you get too far down this list, things become theoretical. Even so, that did not stop one man from trying to sue for $2 undecillion.

There are between 1078 to 1082atoms in the observable universe. That’s between a quinvigintillionten and ten sexvigintillion atoms. As inconceivable as that number may be, an even larger number (the Shannon Number) is needed to describe the number of possible moves in a game of chess.


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