Google's Mathematical Limit

How high can Google count? Very high it turns out, but there is a limit. Using the Google search box as a calculator, Google's ceiling appears to be <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=2.00135558564%5E1023">2.00135558564&#94;1023</a>, which Google says equals 1.79769313 &#215; 10&#94;308.

Thomas Claburn, Editor at Large, Enterprise Mobility

June 1, 2007

1 Min Read
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How high can Google count? Very high it turns out, but there is a limit. Using the Google search box as a calculator, Google's ceiling appears to be 2.00135558564^1023, which Google says equals 1.79769313 × 10^308.Try 3^1023 and you get the search results page instead of a calculated result. The same holds true for 2^1024.

Increasing the number to 2.001355585641^1023 results in the same total, 1.79769313 × 10^308. So that appears to be where Google stops calculating.

Does that mean anything? Not to me. And probably not to anyone else, apart from a few computer scientists. But knowing that Google has a limit is somehow comforting.

About the Author

Thomas Claburn

Editor at Large, Enterprise Mobility

Thomas Claburn has been writing about business and technology since 1996, for publications such as New Architect, PC Computing, InformationWeek, Salon, Wired, and Ziff Davis Smart Business. Before that, he worked in film and television, having earned a not particularly useful master's degree in film production. He wrote the original treatment for 3DO's Killing Time, a short story that appeared in On Spec, and the screenplay for an independent film called The Hanged Man, which he would later direct. He's the author of a science fiction novel, Reflecting Fires, and a sadly neglected blog, Lot 49. His iPhone game, Blocfall, is available through the iTunes App Store. His wife is a talented jazz singer; he does not sing, which is for the best.

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