Understanding numbers
On a daily basis we are confronted with numbers. Some of us more than others and we do not all have the same understanding of what numbers really mean. Some people understand them better than others.
You see, for millenia, our brains only needed to understand small quantities, units and numbers.
If you throw a handful of pebbles on the ground, you can at a glance quickly recognize and count 3, 5 or perhaps 7. But more than this quickly becomes a challenge.
So for centuries, humans counted to 5 and after that there were just, well, ”lots” or ”lots and lots”.
The other day I was listening in on a conversation about how rich certain celebrities were. One of the people clearly had trouble distinguishing between millions and billions. They were basically the same (lots and lots!).
I find this funny and it is actually a mistake many people make, because a billionaire really is a shit-load richer than a millionaire. But to truly grasp this, we need to have clear reference points to wrap our minds around this difference.
So let me give you two examples to gain some perspective:
First of all by using time as a reference:
A million seconds is roughly 12 days.
A billion seconds is not just a bit more. It is a LOT more.
