What Comes After Trillion? the Ultimate Large Numbers Cheat Sheet from Quadrillion to Googolplex
The names of large numbers follow Latin numerical prefixes. Each successive step in the American and British short-scale system multiplies the previous milestone by one thousand.
The naming conventions follow an organized rhythm:
- Quintillion ($10^{18}$, 18 zeros): From the Latin quint- (five). This is the scale used to count the estimated grains of sand on all of Earth’s beaches (roughly 7.5 quintillion).
- Sextillion ($10^{21}$, 21 zeros): From the Latin sext- (six). Total water molecules in a single drop of water hover around 1.5 sextillion.
- Septillion ($10^{24}$, 24 zeros): From the Latin sept- (seven). Earth's total mass is approximately six septillion kilograms ($5.97 \times 10^{24}\text{ kg}$).
- Octillion ($10^{27}$, 28 zeros): From the Latin oct- (eight). The total number of atoms in an average human body is roughly seven octillion ($7 \times 10^{27}$).
- Nonillion ($10^{30}$, 30 zeros): From the Latin non- (nine). The mass of the Sun sits at roughly two nonillion kilograms ($1.989 \times 10^{30}\text{ kg}$).
- Decillion ($10^{33}$, 33 zeros): From the Latin dec- (ten).
Because writing dozens of zeros becomes inefficient and prone to typographic error, mathematicians and engineers rely on scientific notation. Instead of printing 33 zeros for a decillion, scientists write $1 \times 10^{33}$, which pinpoints the exact order of magnitude without clutter.
