Zach + Math = Googolplex Happiness

Zachary loves math. He's always been a numbers guy. When he was 4 he could add a column of double-digit numbers faster than big sis could input them in a calculator AND always came up with the right answer. Numbers just make sense in his brain. He's constantly coming up with ways to make math equations out of simple life things. After he's completed his homework, piano practicing, and reading, he will often ask me to make up math problems for him, for the fun of it! I thought I would put in a sample of what he likes to do.

I'm not sure if you can see it very well, but we started with subraction (borrowing), and addition (carrying), etc. no problem these are easy and fun, but don't interest him for very long. He asked for harder, so I did a super long addition problem. Apparently, not the kind of "harder" he was looking for. He still asked for harder. I gave him a multiplication problem, not just your typical 4 x 3 equation, but 3,524 x 425 type of thing. I only had to explain the process ONCE and he gets it, loves it, and then begs for more. We finally stopped, only because I'm a mean mom and insisted he go outside and play like a normal 7 year old 2nd grader. It is so fun for him. I'm hopeful that this stage won't wear off, though I know it probably eventually will.

About a week ago Zach had homework that asked him to write the biggest number he knew. He said it was “googolplex.” I’d never heard of it, and thought he made it up, so I asked him what it came after. He proceeded to list "hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, trillions, quatillions, and googolplex." I decided to search it out on the internet. Sure enough the "largest number that has a commonly-known specific name is googolplex." Who knew? Well, apparently my 7 year old son. When I asked him how he knew this he said, “it’s just in there, in my head.” Here’s some googolplex trivia for you math genius’ out there:

"In about 1938, Edward Kasner's nine-year-old nephew Milton Sirotta coined the term googol; Milton then proposed the further term googolplex to be "one, followed by writing zeroes until you get tired." Kasner decided to adopt a more formal definition of 10^googol, or 1 with a googol zeroes after it. googolplex = 10^googol = 10^(10^100)

Google (the internet search company) is named after googol (the number).

As for Zach saying googolplex comes after quatillion, he was amazed to "google it up" (as my kids call searching for something on the internet), and find that there are 100 different place values before you even get to googolplex! He was so excited to learn this that he printed off the info and shared it with his 2nd grade class the next day for show and tell. I'm sure his classmates were pretty bored, but luckily his teacher really likes numbers and shares Zach's enthusiasm for learning about them.

If you're curious about what comes between quatillion and googolplex, or if you simply need something to help you get to sleep, here's the link: http://www.mazes.com/numberingsystems.html#placevaluechart