From the Wikipedia encyclopedia: A number is an abstract idea used for counting and measuring. A symbol that represents a number is called a numeral, but in common usage the word number is used for both the idea and the symbol.
The definition of number has been expanded over the years to include numbers such as zero, negative numbers, rational numbers, irrational numbers, and complex numbers.
How high are the numbers going? In our daily lives we use many of the lower numbers, such as one to ten, and up to the trillions. We rarely go higher than that. What about those numbers beyond the trillions? We may not even know many of them.
Let me give you an idea of the numbers that exist. We will start with zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and nine. All other numbers are just combinations of these, we take one and add zero to make ten, and so on. Take a look at all the numbers people have come up with:
One hundred 100
Thousand thousand
Millions 1,000,000
Billion 1,000,000,000
Billion 1,000,000,000,000
Quadrillions of 1 and 15 zeros
Quintillion 1 and 18 zeros
Sextillion 1 and 21 zeros
Septillion 1 and 24 zeros
Octillion 1 and 27 zeros
No million of 1 and 30 zeros
Decillion 1 and 33 zeros
Undecillion 1 and 36 zeros
Duodecillion 1 and 39 zeros
Tredecillion 1 and 42 zeros
Quarterdecillion 1 and 45 zeros
Quidecillion 1 and 48 zeros
Sexdecillion 1 and 51 zeros
Septendecillion 1 and 54 zeros
Octadecillion 1 and 57 zeros
Novemdecillion 1 and 60 zeros
Vigintillion 1 and 63 zeros
Unvigintillion 1 and 66 zeros
Dovigintillion 1 and 69 zeros
Trevigintillion 1 and 72 zeros
Quattuorvigintillion 1 and 75 zeros
Quinvigintillón 1 and 78 zeros
Sexvigintillion 1 and 81 zeros
Septenvigintillion 1 and 84 zeros
Octovigintillion 1 and 87 zeros
Novemvigintillion 1 and 90 zeros
Trigintillion 1 and 93 zeros
Untrigintillion 1 and 96 zeros
Dotrigintillion 1 and 99 zeros
Tretrigintillion 1 and 102 zeros
Quadrillions 1 and 105 zeros
Quintrigintillion 1 and 108 zeros
Sextrigintillion 1 and 111 zeros
Septentrigintillion 1 and 114 zeros
Octotrigintillion 1 and 117 zeros
Novemtrintillion 1 and 120 zeros
Untrigintillion 1 and 123 zeros
100 Untrigintillion equals one Googol
100 Googol equals one Googolplex
When people start dealing with such high numbers, they go nuts. Someone decided that a googol is a 1 and 100 zeros, and a googolplex is a 1 followed by a googol of zeros, which is an extremely long number. I wonder if anyone really knows what they are doing when it comes to such high numbers.
In some foreign countries they have a different list of numbers. So since we don’t really have to deal with these high numbers, we don’t have to worry about it, but they can be fun.
Here are a couple of cool things about numbers: 18 is the only number that is twice the sum of its digits: 1 + 8 = 9 9×2 = 18.
Multiply 111,111,111 by 111,111,111 It is equal to 12345678987654321. Try it on your calculator on your computer. Small calculators don’t have enough number spaces.
Here are a couple more interesting things:
God speaking to Moses: “And innumerable worlds have I created … and innumerable are for man; but all things are counted for me, because they are mine and I know them.” Moses 1:33 and 35.
In the scriptures it is mentioned: “numerous as the sands on the seashore”. It would be impossible to count so many grains of sand! There are many more cool things that can be done with numbers. Check them out and have fun!