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Scientists Propose 'Hella' as New Big-Number Prefix

US Davis physicists want to honor NoCal's scientific legacy

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 2, 2010 4:00 PM CST

(Newser) – Our world's expanding technological horizons draw ever-bigger numbers into household usage—witness "giga" and "tera." So a group of scientists at UC Davis figure they'd head the next one off early: they're petitioning to make "hella" the official prefix for 1027, or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. A Boing Boing contributor notes that "it would come in handy for eventually measuring Internet traffic and US national debt." Check out the Facebook petition here.

The name is a tribute to Northern California and its scientific accomplishments, says the petition. "The area is also notorious for the creation and widespread usage of the English slang 'hella,' which typically means 'very,' or can refer to a large quantity (e.g. 'there are hella stars out tonight')."

10^27, or as some would like to see, hella.
10^27, or as some would like to see, "hella".
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 26 comments
myvoice
Mar 3, 2010 2:16 PM CST
this is hella cool!!! my favorite word from living in San Fransisco! Definitely Californian scientists!
Cat-Lover
Mar 3, 2010 12:38 PM CST
Twenty seven zero's officially is an "OCTILLION" in America but "1,000 QUADRILLION" in Europe and Latin America.

Six hundred zero's officially is a "CENTILLION" in Europe and Latin America and
"A GOOGOLPLEX" in America.

[100 zero's is a "GOOGOL" throughout the world]

That's how GOOGLE was named (a play on the number) and something that a "group of scientists" should have researched.
psycada
Mar 3, 2010 5:52 AM CST
Isn't hella short for "hell of a"? So it wouldn't be "hella stars out tonight." it's "hella lot of stars out tonight" or to really go slang, "hella lotta" :-P

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