Tools: Big Numbers are meaningless

28 March 2024

How often do you see really big numbers in the news, and just skim over them because they are simply too outside our own experience to make any sense?

$7,400,000,000,000 was recently seen in the media. It’s what the President of the US wants as his budget for next year.

I'm an over-educated electrical engineer (BSEE, Stanford 1970), an MS in Systems Technology (NPS, 1981) and a MEd in Math (GSU 1997). I've taught college level courses in math.

I cannot comprehend a trillion.

I get a million OK. It's just a square piece of earth with 1,000 miles on each side. Very roughly a piece of America with Helena Montana, Tucson Arizona, Tyler Texas, and Duluth Minnesota at the corners. Earth’s surface is ca. 196 million square miles.

A billion is tougher. A square 3,162 x 3,162. Can't imagine it. Six times the earth’s surface.

A trillion is a square with a million on each side. Incomprehensible. There are an estimated ONE trillion stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

How can we comprehend big numbers? Scale them down.

There are about 131.5 million households in the US (2023 census). $5.6 million for each household.

About $2.2 million for each person in the country. That's a number I understand...eek!