How many zeros are in a bajillion, anyway?
You mean it as a joke... but, couple of years ago, A. Stiefelmann, from the math department at the University of Hamburg, came with a serious answer to your question.
Let’s imagine bajillion is an actual number name.
Let’s remember how the names of large numbers are defined in the English language. First comes a number N in Latin, then an -illion suffix is added, for the resulting number having a 1 followed by 3N+3 zeros.
Example: a quadrillion ("quatuor" in Latin is four) has 3*4 + 3 zeros, that is, 15 zeros:
1 000 000 000 000 000
Now, there is no Latin number named baj or baji. But what if we drop the “Latin” requirement? Is there any language where baji is a number?
Yes, there is one: Chinese. And just as expected, it’s a ridiculously large number. Bā 八 is eight. Jí 极 is actually used for 10⁴⁸ in Buddhist texts (for some reason Eastern religions love extremely large numbers). That would make bājí 八极 equal to 8*10⁴⁸. The number of zeros in a bajillion is then (in English) three times this number plus three - that is 2.4*10⁴⁹ + 3, in other words, you have to write a 1 followed by
24 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 003
zeros. And that's how many zeros there are in a bajillion!
In an English bajillion, that is. In German and Spanish, the formula is different. From a number N in Latin, with an -illion suffix added, you get a number made from a 1 followed, not by 3N+3 zeros, but by 6N zeros, making the resulting number considerably higher.