Largest number in the universe

We have always wondered what the largest number is. There is no largest number because we can think of any large number, say 1 trillion and add 1 to it which makes it even bigger.

One of the really large number is Googol. It can be represented as:

Not the google which is the multinational technology company; however, it is interesting to know that the word Google has come from the number googol which was picked to signify that the search engine was supposed to provide large quantities of information.

It was invented by Edward Kasner in the 1920s, an American mathematician. He asked his 9-year-old nephew, Milton Sirotta, what he should name the number. Milton appropriately responded that such a silly sum required an equally silly name, from which the term "googol" was coined.

To understand how big the number googol is. Let us think about how many particles are in the universe. The answer is

which is less than googol. However, Googol is nowhere near to infinity. Kasner thought what number can be greater than a googol so he took 10 and raised it to the power googol and named it googolplex. It can be written as 10 to the power googol:

According to the research, if we want to write this number on a book, about 400 pages with 50 lines per page will be required to write all the zeros of a googolplex. Counting to a googolplex would be even more impossible. We cannot calculate how long it would take, but it is estimated that it would take longer than the age of the universe. Edward Kasner and his colleague James Newman wrote in their book Mathematics and the Imagination: “You will get some idea of the size of this very large but finite number from the fact that there would not be enough room to write it, if you went to the farthest star, touring all the nebulae and putting down zeros every inch of the way.” That is mind boggling!!!

Is there any number greater than googolplex? The answer is yes. Mathematician Ronald Graham invented it. He found a proof involving a very large number. It can be represented as:

The up arrow between the numbers indicate the first number multiplied by itself the second number of times. The number ended up in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1980 and is renowned for being the biggest number. It is so big that, if we want to write this number, the universe does not have enough objects to write the digits on. If you are to memorize this number, your brain might collapse and create a black mental hole. But this is a finite number and a whole number— it can be divided by 3 and it ends in 7.

In mathematics we do not have a significant use of these ginormous numbers. These numbers are used to only quantify extremely large data. It also helps us understand the difference between the large numbers and infinity. Kasner thought that we did not use the word “infinity” in the right context and used it when we just meant large number. So, these incredibly large numbers help us differentiate between the two.

Then what about infinity? If you are wondering whether infinity is the biggest number. Then let me clear your assumption. Infinity is not a number; it is a concept. It is neither even nor odd. Infinity represents limitlessness, it goes on and on forever.