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Octillion

Octillion

How much exactly is an Octillion? What is the next unit above / below that?

Octillion

Wikipedia reports that octillion, in the US system, describes a number equal to 10...27, and in the British system, 10...48.

There is also a statement, without citation, that both the US and Britain no longer use this type of name, but that some European countries do, particularly Spain.

The name below octillion is septillion, with the next higher name being nonillion.

As so many people now have a rudimentary understanding of the scientific and engineering notation of large (and small) numbers, there is no reason to use long names anymore. Octillion doesn't mean anything to me. I would have to convert it to its scientific notation, or write it out (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) for it to have any meaning. However, 10...27 is a useful number. For example, 1 octillion * 1 octillion = 10...27 * 10...27 = 10...54. This is a septendecillion. If I was a chemist or astrophysicist, I might be working with numbers like this. And the name would get in the way of use and understanding.