RE: "I remember my dad told me about a number called a googaplex"The word is "googleplex." In the book by Kasner & Newman one of the authors (I think it was Kasner) tells how his nephew invented the &googleplex," Kasner was discussing numbers with his nephew, a boy of about 8, I believe. The young fellow invented the name "google" for the number formed by writing a hundred zeros after the number 1. (To grasp the size of that number think for a moment that "100" is the number 1 with only 2 zeros after it. From a different viewpoint, a "google" is large enough to count all the hydrogen atoms in the universe.)
Sometime later, the nephew said that he had identified a number larger than a "google." Kasner asked him what it was and the nephew said "the number 1 with a google of zeros after it." The name for that number is "googleplex." To grasp the enormity of a "googleplex", consider: there isn't enough time estimated to remain in the life of the universe to write that number out.
As if this weren't enough, I've heard the nephew went on to invent a way of writing even larger numbers down. This is basically a system of notation that depends on recursive definitions and geometric shapes. It is too difficult to illustrate in text alone. I've forgotten what the numbers are called (mega-something I think) but one day I may remember.
