Bob Williams, age 10, of Twin Falls, Idaho, for his question:

WHAT IS A GOOGOL?

A googol is a number that makes millions and even billions seem like small potatoes. A googol is a 1 followed by 100 zeros.

A googolplex is larger still. It is 10 to the googol power, or 10 multiplied by itself a googol number of times.

The term googol was introduced by the American mathematician Edward Kasner. His 9 year old nephew, Kasner reports, was the first to use the word.

Kasner joined the faculty of Columbia University in 1900. His researches in many branches of mathematics included studies of relativity, horn angles, invariants, differential equations and polygonic functions.