A number that has 100 zeros after a 1 is called a googol.

Quick Scoop: What is a “number with 100 zeros” called?

When people ask “What is the number with 100 zeros called?”, they’re talking about the huge number:

  • Written out in scientific form as 1010010^{100}10100 (a 1 followed by 100 zeros)
  • Given the special name googol

Mathematician Edward Kasner popularized the term in the early 20th century, and the search engine Google even took its name from this word (with a spelling twist).

A tiny example to picture it

To see how wild a googol is, compare it with familiar big numbers:

  • Million = 10610^{6}106 (6 zeros)
  • Billion = 10910^{9}109 (9 zeros)
  • Trillion = 101210^{12}1012 (12 zeros)
  • Googol = 1010010^{100}10100 (100 zeros!)

Even if you tried writing a googol out in full, you’d fill lines and lines with zeros.

HTML table: Names and zeros

Here’s a simple HTML table to put it in context:

html

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Name</th>
      <th>Scientific notation</th>
      <th>Number of zeros</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Million</td>
      <td>10^6</td>
      <td>6</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Billion</td>
      <td>10^9</td>
      <td>9</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Trillion</td>
      <td>10^12</td>
      <td>12</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Googol</td>
      <td>10^100</td>
      <td>100</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

(Values summarized from standard large-number lists and googol definitions.)

Fun extra: bigger than a googol?

If you keep going, there’s an even larger named number called a googolplex , which is a 1 followed by a googol zeros — far too many to ever write out in full. It’s mostly a thought experiment showing how enormous numbers can get, rather than something you’d use in everyday calculations.

TL;DR:
A number with 100 zeros after it (a 1 followed by 100 zeros) is called a googol.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.