Numbers With Multidigits

Only for the past few years I am conversant with lakhs ,not to talk of higher numbers.
Large numbers are numbers above one million that are usually represented either with the use of an exponent
9
such as 10 or by terms such as billion or thousand millions that frequently differ from system to system. The American system of numeration for denominations above one million was modeled on a French system, but in 1948 the French system was changed to correspond to the German and British systems. In the American system each of the denominations above 1,000 millions (the American billion) is 1,000 times the preceding one (one trillion = 1,000 billions; one quadrillion = 1,000 trillions). In the British system each of the denominations is 1,000,000 times the preceding one (one trillion = 1,000,000 billions) with the sole exception of milliard, which is sometimes used for 1,000 millions. In recent years British usage has reflected widespread and increasing use of the American system.


The table provides American and British names for various large numbers.

Depending on number of zeroes increasing by three at every step, the names of numerals change as milliard,trillion billion,quadrillion Thousand billion etc.
Our nerves shake on seeing the number of zeroes extending upto GOOGOL,GOOGOLPLEX etc etc.



Many writers lure us with billions and Trillions and not to talk of

'googol' and'googolplex'.Now internet is the open book and it leads us

to so many hitherto unknown areas.
Normally in Us and scientific communities Trillion is 1 followed by 12 zeroes.
In some other countries Trillion is used for the no1 followed by 18 zeroes.However US version is taken as standard.It is one lakh crores in

India.( million million)

While talking about Trillions I am reminded of an age old story very

often told by my mother .Here the number is very familiar to us.

There was a generous king.He used to distribute foodgrains,dresses

and money to whoever came to him. Hundreds of people came to him

daily to receive something or the other.

A wise man was seeing all these things. He went to the king and told

him"O king,I need an obligation. Pl give me Re one today,Rs 2

tomorrow,Rs4 on the third day-like this for just 40 days. I will never

come to you later in my life time.

The king just laughed. "See,I have given so many things to so many

persons. Your request is very simple. Do you think that your king will

not be able to do this simple help to you?' The king ordered his officer

to carry out the simple job.

The man accepted Re1 on the first day, Rs2 on the 2nd day, Rs 4 on the

third day Rs 8 on the 4th day.On the 10th day the man got Rs 512/only.

The king said to his men"This man should be a fool to come daily to the

palace just to receive the meagre amt.

The process went on. On the 20th day the king had to give Rs5,24,288/

to the man.

The king thought for a while. Even then he could not assess the

doubling speed. "After all only 20 days remain. Somehow I have to

keep up my promise"the king said to himself.On the 30th day the king

had to give a vast sum of Rs53,68,70912(Fifty three crores sixty eight

lakhs,seventythousand,nine hundred and twelve rupees)

The king's treasury was getting exhausted fast. The officers warned

the king.The king realised his folly of having miscalculated.

Yet his prestige didn't allow him to go back on his promise.

On the 40 th day, the man came in a big cart. He received his due of

Rs109521,66,60,480/( one lakh nine thousand five hundred and twenty

one crores sixty six lakhs,sixty thousand four hundred and eighty

rupees)

He submitted to the king,"O king,True, you have been too generous to

be foolish. I am sorry to make this remark to you. I know, by now your

entire treasury would have become empty. Any thing that comes free of

cost has no value.You can reward persons for their merits and hard

work.Haven't you heard the proverb"aatril kottinaalum alandhu kottu

.( Even if you want to throw away anything into a river,pl understand and

measure what you throw) If you go on distributing the wealth ,there will

be nothing left behind to face the crisis.I am giving back whatever I

have received all these 40 days amounting to Rs215634,20,18,047(Two

lakhs fifteen thousand six hundred and thirty four crores approx. that

2.15 TRILLION RUPEES and my purpose was to teach you a lesson. I

don't mind being branded as a fool."

The king realised his mistake and heartfully thanked the wise man

who accepted a token reward from the king.

This small event which started with Re1/ has resulted in such a huge

devastation within 40 days .We can imagine the magnitude of projects

involving Trillions of dollars and crores of rupees for free distribution

in India.

Googol and googolplex need to be imagined only.

They denote something less than infinity.

For common man Trillion, googol or googolplex may be a thing of

academic interest reg number of'0's following'1'.

But for the Govt it may denote a warning symbol of themselves

becoming mere zeroes.


Though I am very much interested in numbers I did not know about

Googol and Googolplex.I used to give Maths puzzles to my grand daughter

Sarada,in Singapore. She used to get more puzzles from her teachers.

She is very good in Maths. fifteen years back she challenged me that I may not

be able to answer her question about googol and googolplex.I was able to answer

her only after referring to internet and I accepted my defeat.

Since she was only7 years old then,she had lot of confusion about 'google' and

'googol'.Now a days I learn a lot from my grand children.It is a great delight to

get defeated by the kids.

JAYASALA 42