We’ve Looked At Beautiful Numbers, Now How About Some Really BIG ones!

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Taking a break from the funny stuff today.

A while ago I did a post about Beautiful Numbers. And yesterday I was having a look at the debt situation in various countries, which sparked off this post about numbers, BIG ones. 

I will post links to the US debt figures and a couple of others at the end of this post. They are kind of fascinating because they are real-time counters, continually updating.

However, to get on with the post, everybody knows 1 (one), 10 (ten), 100 (hundred), 1,000 (thousand), and 1,000,000 (million). We are all familiar with 1,000,000,000 (billion) although none of us have ever counted that far. In fact oil mogul John Paul Getty once said that if you could count your money you weren’t a billionaire. I can, and I’m not, so perhaps he was right!

And, thanks to the massive debt that the US and other countries are building up, we are also getting more and more familiar with 1,000,000,000,000 trillion.

After that, however, most people would be stuck. Here are the next big numbers.

1,000,000,000,000,000 quadrillion

1,000,000,000,000,000,000 quintillion

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 sextillion

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 septillion

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 octillion

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 nonillion

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 decillion

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 vigintillion

10¹⁰⁰ better known as a googol from which the search engine google derived its name.

10³⁰³ centillion

And finally for now, a googolplex which is 10^googol

That’s a lot of zeros!

You may have noticed in all this that the names for a lot of the larger numbers end in “illion”. This is also true for the names used to describe numbers that don’t actually exist and that are of no specific size.

For example, words like , ‘jillion’, ‘gadzillion’ and ‘squillion’ (there are many other variations). Their size is dependent upon the context, but can typically be considered a very very large number. And if you are talking about the super rich then all you have to do is stick ‘-illionaire’ on the end.

But the best term for describing a number is one that also doesn’t really exist. I mean it exists as a word, but it is not a precise mathematical term and it just describes a big number rather than a specific big number.

The term I’m talking about is ‘Umpteen’. From the name you would imagine that it should represent a number somewhere in the teens, but it can be used to describe virtually any number, real or imaginary. A useful term if you don’t have a specific number in mind.

Now for the clocks. Here are the links. Hope you find them interesting, maybe a little scary in some cases.

Probably the best of these is from the wonderfully named poodwaddle.com

http://www.poodwaddle.com/clocks/worldclock/

Some others to look at too if you are interested in this type of thing

US Debt clock   http://www.usdebtclock.org/index.html

World Debt Clock   http://www.usdebtclock.org/world-debt-clock.html

And some real time world counters on a variety of things

http://www.worldometers.info/

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Statistical Summer Saturday

”Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

A day for fasab factoid fans. 

Here is a selection of statistics and odd facts that I hope you find interesting. 

If she were life-size Barbie's measurements would be 39-23-33

Coca-cola was originally green

The Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters

The first novel ever written on a typewriter was "Tom Sawyer"

Why do you need a driver's license to buy liquor in America when you can't drink and drive?

There are more collect calls on Father's Day than any other day of the year

Heinz Catsup leaving the bottle travels at 25 miles PER YEAR

It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs

Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?

Men get hiccups more often than women

Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better

The chances that an American lives within 50 miles of where he/she grew up are 1 in 2.

The amount American Airlines saved in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first class was $440,000

The city with the most Rolls Royces per capita is Hong Kong

The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work is Alaska

How does the guy who drives the snowplow get to work in the mornings?

The chances of a white Christmas in New York are 1 in 4

The portion of US annual rainfall that falls in April is 1/12

28 percent of Africa is wilderness

38 percent of North America is wilderness

An estimated 44 percent of American adults go on a diet each year

43 percent of Americans regularly attend religious services

The city with the highest per capita viewership of TV evangelists is Washington DC

80 percent of American men say they would marry the same woman if they had it to do all over again

50 percent of American women say they would marry the same man

58 percent of men say they are happier after their divorce or separation

85 percent of women say they are happier

Hallmark makes cards for 105 different familial relationships

The average number of people airborne over the US any given hour is 61,000

70 percent of Americans have visited Disneyland or Disney World

The average life span of a major league baseball is 7 pitches

1/3 of all ice cream sold is vanilla

1/3 of potatoes sold are French-fried

7 percent of Americans eat at McDonalds each day

90 percent of bird species are monogamous

3 percent of mammal species are monogamous

Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations?

If 7-11 is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks on the doors?

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