Can You Count to a Googol?

Wells of Knowledge Science

by Robert E. Wells

2000 Gold Seal Award, Oppenheim Toy PortfolioA Best Book for Children 2001, Science Books & FilmYou may be able to count all the way to one hundred, but have you ever counted to a googol? It's impossible! In this fun book of numbers, Robert E. Wells explores the wonderful world of zeros and tells how the googol came to be named.

Genres: Mathematics, Picture Books, Childrens, Nonfiction, Science, 1st Grade, Education

32 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

About Robert Wells
Robert E. Wells is the author and illustrator of many intriguing and award-winning science books for children. He lives with his wife in Wenatchee, Washington.


Welcome Robert E. Wells’s books into your classroom, and you’ll find most of
your science curriculum covered. The twelve volumes – engaging and informative,
educational and inviting – provide second through fifth graders with lessons in
science and math from astronomy to weather; from biology to measurement.
Beyond the solid information that is the core of each book, Wells also introduces
concepts that offer students deeper understanding of the subjects at hand. His
conversational tone and thought-provoking questions will lead children to questions
of their own. And that is the beginning of all scientific learning.

Reviews

[Tatiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will always remember this book for being at the center of my first independent math lesson. For fifth-grade, my topic was multiplying with powers of ten using exponents, and Can You Count to a Googol? really helped introduce all of that math content.

What I could not have anticipated while writing the lesson plan was that the students I received this morning were completely unfamiliar with powers of ten (and I later learned that they were the lowest level group), but between all the strategies I had planned and this book, they had a beginning understanding of powers of ten and exponents by the end of the hour. If the only tidbit they take away from the lesson was that the value of the exponent is equal to the number of zeros in the product, then at least they have a headstart when they reach powers in their math class.

[Barbara Radisavljevic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beginning with 1 "the number of bananas you can balance on
your nose, if you're a good banana balancer," the author keeps adding and illustrating the effect of adding zeros with his zany illustrations until he passes the googol, a real number named by the nine-year-old nephew of the first mathematician to write it down (as far as we know) in the 1930's
-- a Dr. Edward Kasner. One of the most important points the author of this book makes is that although a googol exists, it is much bigger than anyone can ever really imagine, and that as big as it is, it is not the biggest number, because "You can keep on adding zeros forever." And on to
infinity.

[Laura (Book Scrounger) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though its examples may not be quite as elaborate as in How Much Is a Million?, I think I like this one more because it covers a lot more about even bigger numbers, and actually explains some math along the way (such as that adding a zero to a number makes it ten times bigger). And the examples are still pretty creative -- penguins with scoops of ice cream, baskets of marshmallows, raining pennies, etc. It's hard to visualize just how big a "googol" is (1 followed by 100 zeroes), but this book certainly helps to blow my mind in the attempt.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

My five year old fancies himself a budding mathematician. He adores many books by this author. Fabulous illustrations and relatable text.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an entertaining book that teaches children about large numbers. We just read On Beyond a Million: An Amazing Math Journey, so it was good to compare the different ways in which the numbers are described.

This book does not go into exponents as much, but it does explain the system by which the largest numbers were named. It also answers questions about what is considered a 'real' number (such as quadrillion versus gazillion).

The narrative is informative and engaging and the illustrations are colorful and cartoonish. We really enjoyed reading this book together.

[Chelsea Ulrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is helpful in allowing students to see what multiples of tens look like. Many students have a hard time understanding how multiplying by ten changes the number but the visual representations in this book would be helpful to ground students in their thinking. I could see using this with higher grades as this is something that they should have knowledge of and I can also see how using this as an introduction to multiplying by ten could be helpful for student understanding.

[Lorie Barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for 5th grade powers of ten and the largeness of what numbers represent!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neat way to introduce place value

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great way to begin conceiving how big the BIG numbers are for kids and adults.

[Naira Franco · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is good for kids to learn place value and to learn the number, a googol.

[Sylvia Ulmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

CCSS.Math.Content.5.NBT.A.2 Explain patterns in the number of zeros of the product when multiplying a number by powers of 10...Use whole-number exponents to denote powers of 10.

Our class read this as a review of place value and as a segue for introducing exponents/powers of ten. The kids definitely came away with an idea of exponential growth. The illustrations were very appropriate in helping them see what happens when you multiply by ten. It specifically pointed out that each time you add a zero to the end of a number, it is multiplied by ten. The students also had a high interest in the book, especially when it came to the cosmic measurements!

My only complaint is that the book was small, so it was difficult for a lot of the kids to see the illustrations.

(Also, as someone who is not convinced by evolutionary theory, I couldn't help but add, "Many scientists think," before the billion-year-old earth page).

[Kayo C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reminded me of my first graders when the class first learned about estimation. After the first few children took guesses it became a "contest" of sorts for who could should the biggest and most ridiculous number they had ever heard. They seemed more interest in being able to say a large number than say a close guess. This book would be great to discuss estimation and how we know some numbers and just way too big, it would also be useful for teaching place value and how the addition of a zero at the end of a number can change it's value tremendously. This book is humorous and will probably get a few laughs out the class and also introduces some really neat facts. Who knew that a "googol" was a real number? I give it a solid 3 stars.

[Fjóla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked this book about number sense just as much as Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is?. It explains big numbers in the best way I can think of to get a feel for them. I nice touch at the end was the last page spread that explained how to come up with the representations used in the book, for instance how do we figure out "how big a stack 1,000,000 dollar bills would make", or that "100 eagles could really take you for a ride" ...

[Sasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It helped me learn how to count to a googol...seriously. It gives a great break of each different place value and brings in real -life objects that can be counted using low to very extreme numbers. Awesome for reading before a place value lesson.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are not very good with numbers this may be a difficult book to read. However, this is excellent for grouping by tens, and giving interesting facts about each of the numbers presented in the book. It is also helpful for teaching place values.

[Attwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good choice for read alouds that teaches students about counting- starting at 1 and ..."there just no use trying to count to a googol. It's just too big! Bigger than the number of atoms in the whole universe!"

[Bethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting look at hard to imagine large numbers. Good illustrations demonstrate multiples of ten, but I lowered the rating 1 star because the illustrations are a bit off and the book doesn't mention the concept of infinity.

[Penny · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kids (9 and 5) are fascinated by the numbers in this book and the whole idea of googol, they want me to read this book over and over.
DD took it to school to share because she just wants everyone else to know about googol.

I think it will make a great teacher resource.

[Shelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining and educational book about very large numbers that make most people's brains hurt. How much is a googol? 10 to the 100th power! The illustrations were cute and helped to show just how many a billion and a trillion are, and what those numbers are most often used to represent.

[Guinevere · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned that googols are a number!

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like the way this book starts with a small number and then adds exponents. It is a great way to see how big the numbers grow so fast. The googol really boggles the mind.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kids liked it. Cute number book.

[Sharonta Johnson]

This funny book is a creative way to explain how the number line never ends. By counting all the way to googol.

[Charity Ambs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this book because it presents a mathematical concept in a very interesting way. Would recommend.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://www.pussreboots.pair.com/blog/...

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is an absolute favorite in our home. Robert Wells makes topics so understandable for kids and presents them in a fun way.

[Nahuatl P Vargas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muy buen libro sobre números grandes y cómo imaginárselos.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderful book used in math lesson.

[Sarah Bosworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be a great book to introduce multiplying by ten. It would not make a great read aloud because there aren't any characters narrating it or any commentary better characters, but I would definitely use it in my classroom. There are so many response activities that would be good for this.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book teaches students about math and counting. I would use this book because it gets students interested in numbers in a creative way.