众所周知Google的名字来源于googol一词，googol是一个大数的名称，代表10的100次方，1后面跟100个零，如果用我们平时比较有概念的数量级来表示的话，googol就是一万亿亿亿亿亿亿亿亿亿亿亿亿（十二个亿连写～～～）。
再来个具像一点的比较：比方说有1googol粒沙子，每粒直径0.1毫米，1立方米空间就需要2万亿粒沙子填满（按照球体算）。一光年约为9.45×10的15次方米，目前可观测的宇宙直径是150亿光年，姑且把宇宙算作一个静态球体，那么它的体积约为441×10的45次方立方米。那么1googol粒沙子可以充满多少个宇宙呢？
看如下公式：
其中Ly是光年，Ru是宇宙直径，Rs是沙砾直径，那么可以得到：
3.51×10的30次方就是351万亿亿亿个宇宙！！！
真是不可想像阿。这还不算什么，单词googolplex是10的googol次方！以至于如此之大的数字根本无法打印出来，按照目前计算机的能力以及摩尔定律（每年速度翻一倍）来计算的话，也要524年才能打完～～～
平时我们所说的MB是2的20次方，约等于100万字节，再往上是GB（2的30次方）约为10亿字节，然后是TB（2的40次方），PB（2的50次方），EB（2的60次方），依此类推还有ZB，YB，NB，DB，就算是DB也才是2的100次方约为10的30次方。
汉语里面关于大数的名字不多，通常用的就是亿，兆（10的12次方），京（10的16次方），垓（10的20次方，念作该）。
此外还有佛经中用来表示大数的“秭”、“壤”、“溝”、“涧”、“正”、“载”、“极”、“恒河沙”、“阿僧袛”、“那由他”（10的60次方）、“不可思议”（10的64次方）、“无量大数”（10的68次方）等都比googol小，另外一个“矜羯罗”（10的112次方）则比googol大，但是佛经里面最大的数字“不可说不可说转”大小为10的7×2的122次方次方约等于10的3.721×10的37次方次方（好拗口！）已经是不可想像之大了，但还是比googolplex小的多！
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Question:
Is there any way to hold a googol in your hands? I read once on a Web site that if you did something with cards the chances would be a googol or more.
Answer:
A googol is a 1 followed by 100 zeros. That’s a pretty big number! For example, a trillion is a 1 followed by 12 zeros. So
1 googol = 10 thousand trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion
A much easier way to write this is 10^100.
Now, just how big is that? Well, consider that a nickel weighs about 5 grams. A diamond that weighs as much as a nickel would contain about 10^23 carbon atoms. That’s also a big number, but it’s insignificant compared to a googol.
The earth weighs about half of 10^28 grams. So if you imagine a diamond that weighs as much as the earth, it would have about 10^50 carbon atoms. Still pretty small compared to a googol.
A billion diamonds that big would have about 10^60 carbon atoms. So clearly you’re not going to be able to hold a googol of things in your hands.
But can you hold a googol of possibilities? That’s where things like cards come into the picture. If you have a deck of cards, how many different ways can you arrange the deck? You have 52 choices for the first card, 51 for the second, 50 for the third, and so on. So that works out to
52! = 52 * 51 * 50 * … * 3 * 2 * 1
= about 10^67
Which is still a lot less than a googol. But also, it’s a big number to come from something as small as a deck of cards. And in fact, if we add more cards, so that we have at least 70, the number of possible arrangements is greater than a googol.
So in fact, to ‘hold a google in your hand’, all you’d have to do is write the numbers from 1 to 70 on individual index cards, and hold that ‘deck’ in your hand… if what you’re counting is possible ways to arrange the deck.