I think that the media should use scientific notation. First of all, scientific notation should ditch the scientific tag. This just scares people away. Instead of using a “trillion”, 1012 is much clearer and is the best method we have for visualizing large numbers. Our minds aren’t good at this anyways, so we need all the help we can get.
Which notation would you prefer?
a) one billion
b) 1000000000
c) 109
The word ‘billion’ is too interchangeable with the other illions. Writing out all of the zeros is just tedious. Scientific notation clearly identifies the size of the number.
The media tosses millions, billions and trillion around like they are equal. They are far from it. To put it in perspective, a million seconds takes 11 days; a billion takes 32 years; and a trillion takes 317 centuries. The cost of the war in Iraq has passed the trillion dollar mark. If you made $10,000/sec, you would be a millionaire within 2 minutes, but it would take you over 3 years to make a trillion dollars. There is a big difference!
Nikon has produced a great site which helps visualize very small and very big numbers. Check it out.
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8 Comments on this post
Leave a CommentI actually prefer a billion – it means more to me than the others. The real question here is if we were to go to your system, how would you refer to a Braziliian?
Comment left on 3.8.2008 by Canucklehead
That was kinda my point. Our society is too comfortable with the word billion.
Yes, the Brazilians will have to sacrifice their name in the name of math.
Comment left on 3.8.2008 by Adrian Corscadden
I prefer log base humongous. Because of wiggle room in physics 100 years ago. You know. momentum. so log base humpngous. Then, humongous^^humongous would be really humongous. Iterate that a few times and you have, in damage caused, what I call the Bush number. Thank you. Rob
Comment left on 3.8.2008 by Rob
You make a very good point. Numbers are thrown out so much that we end up numbed by the media. It seems like there are so many millionaires running around these days, a million isn’t worth much now compared to what it used to be, the worth of the dollar is at an incredible low and inflation continues to creep upwards. Maybe there’s a rationalization that if gas is costing us over three bucks a gallon, maybe a trillion dollars for a war isn’t that bad.
Don’t be mistaken though, with fighting comes wounded soldiers and wounded soldiers collect disability. The cost of this war will continue to grow for an entire generation. I’m a disabled vet myself, so I’m not bashing on the soldiers in the least. I’m just saying that even if people could appreciate exactly how much money is being spent, they still wouldn’t have a clear picture on how much the war will cost.
Comment left on 3.8.2008 by Brady
In some respects, it doesn’t matter simply because most people cannot picture that much anything anyway. I must tell you that most people need to be able to picture such things. So it doesn’t matter if it’s 10 to the 9th power or a bazzillion. It won’t get through.
Comment left on 3.8.2008 by Jaz
That’s right Jaz – the unwashed masses cannot possibly comprehend the advanced concepts of us geniuses.
Next time we have a circle-jerk, I propose thicker blindfolds.
Comment left on 3.8.2008 by Canucklehead
Offside Canucklehead! You have to wait for the puck to cross the blue line before entering that zone.
Comment left on 3.8.2008 by Adrian Corscadden
Can I come out of the box yet?
Comment left on 3.10.2008 by Canucklehead