History of large numbers
Do you know what numbers are? They are little things we use to count things like apples or toys. But did you know that there are really big numbers too? These are called "large numbers".
People have been using numbers to count things for a really long time, like hundreds of thousands of years! Back then, they only counted small things like the number of animals they had or the number of people in their village.
But as people started to explore the world around them and discover new things, they needed bigger numbers to count them. For example, when people started farming and growing crops, they needed to count how many plants they had. So they created new numbers.
As people discovered more and more things, they needed even bigger numbers. For example, think of the number of stars in the sky. It's really big, right? So people created even bigger numbers to count them.
The ancient Greeks were some of the first people to come up with really large numbers. They created the number "myriad", which means ten thousand. They also came up with the idea of infinity, which means there is no end to how big a number can be.
In the early 20th century, a mathematician named Edward Kasner wanted to come up with an even bigger number. He asked his nephew what he thought would be a good name for a really big number, and his nephew said "googol". A googol is the number 1 followed by 100 zeroes!
But even that was not enough for Kasner. He wanted an even bigger number, so he named the number 1 followed by a googol zeroes "googolplex". That's a really, really, REALLY big number!
Today, scientists use large numbers to describe things like the size of the universe or the number of cells in our bodies. It's amazing to think that just by creating new numbers, people have been able to explore and understand the world around us in new and exciting ways!
People have been using numbers to count things for a really long time, like hundreds of thousands of years! Back then, they only counted small things like the number of animals they had or the number of people in their village.
But as people started to explore the world around them and discover new things, they needed bigger numbers to count them. For example, when people started farming and growing crops, they needed to count how many plants they had. So they created new numbers.
As people discovered more and more things, they needed even bigger numbers. For example, think of the number of stars in the sky. It's really big, right? So people created even bigger numbers to count them.
The ancient Greeks were some of the first people to come up with really large numbers. They created the number "myriad", which means ten thousand. They also came up with the idea of infinity, which means there is no end to how big a number can be.
In the early 20th century, a mathematician named Edward Kasner wanted to come up with an even bigger number. He asked his nephew what he thought would be a good name for a really big number, and his nephew said "googol". A googol is the number 1 followed by 100 zeroes!
But even that was not enough for Kasner. He wanted an even bigger number, so he named the number 1 followed by a googol zeroes "googolplex". That's a really, really, REALLY big number!
Today, scientists use large numbers to describe things like the size of the universe or the number of cells in our bodies. It's amazing to think that just by creating new numbers, people have been able to explore and understand the world around us in new and exciting ways!