It’s shameful when politicians try to cultivate fear with spurious statistics. This article from The Atlantic shows the longer-term trend is clearly one of improvement. People, the world is not so scary as they would have you believe.
This article about log scales and how to think about them (and how they naturally reflect how we think about big numbers) pretty much nails it, for me. Using log scales is an essential tool in your mental numeracy toolbox.
Thank you, Chalkface blog.
Thank you, too, Vi Hart for your passionate and engaging video on the topic.
https://thechalkfaceblog.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/why-logarithms-still-make-sense/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-7tcTIrers&feature=youtu.be
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
Thanks to Andrew Steele (@statto on Twitter) for this website, which puts into context how much (little!) the UK spends on science each year. Take a look for yourself and ask “are these big numbers?”
£10.4 bn per annum: Is That A Big Number?
https://scienceogram.org/summary/
/./itabn/answer?magnitude=10.4&multiple=G&unit=GBP&measure=a