Free-form entry eg: '125000km', '1.5 million inches', '$67bn', '45000000 AUD', 100years', '123456789', '1 trillion', '1.5e6', '25 million kg'
A little workout for the number sense. It’s never easy to have an intuitive sense of volumes, but here’s a little thought experiment to exercise your numeracy chops.
Answer: around 600 million. Check my workings!
In 1982 Douglas Hofstadter wrote about Number Numbness. We’re still befuddled in the face of millions and billions, let alone trillions or even bigger numbers.
That’s the reason for IsThatABigNumber.com: to help anyone develop their number sense by putting big numbers in context and providing meaningful comparisons.
http://www.andrewcaelliott.com/explorations/2016/1/13/is-that-a-big-number
Is That a Big Number is now a book, published by Oxford University Press. (Google ISBN 0198821220 to find many online booksellers). Although there is serious purpose behind the book - to explore how we think about numbers and how we can understand big numbers - it’s written in a light and engaging style.
Entertaining, full of practical examples, and memorable concepts, Is That A Big Number? renews our relationship with numeracy. If numbers are the musical notes with which the symphony of the universe is written, and you’re struggling to hear the tune, then this is the book to get you humming again.
$267 billion in tariffs. Is That a Big Number?
Misplaced decimal point endangers lives
Violent Crime Rate in the USA: 50% down from peak 25 years ago
Making Sense of Air Pollution Statistics
2,043,599 Pennies is a big number but is it Art?
How old are Olympians? (for each sport)
GDP: a Predictor of Olympic Gold?
Guide to Spotting Dodgy Statistics
HK-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Meets in the Middle
200 Terabyte Mathematical Proof
The book is now out! Published 12 July 2018, it's chock full of numbers and stories about numbers and ways to think about BIG numbers.
Click here to learn more about it.
Click here for Podcast: Andrew Elliott interviewed for New Books Network.