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How many millions are in a trillion?

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Re: How many millions are in a trillion?

#21

Post by ajuc »

I've nerver understanded why exactly english metric system, date formating, and naming of big numbers is so inconsistent.

When you write date, you have to natural way - from the the least significant bit:) to the most, and the other way around.

And Americans use month/day/year. Perfectly intuitive :)

Likewise - in long scale system there is simple rule - next name for big number is 10^3 times bigger.

Indian system is also consistent, but mixing this is just crazy.

And don't get me started about inches, feets etc.

Still, I shouldn't complain - in my language there are three possible words for most of the nouns - for example: 1 jablko, 2-4 jablka, 5-21 jablek, 22-24 jablka, 25-31 jablek, 32-34 jablka, etc :)

Of course then you have to conjugate every noun by apropriate case (one of 7).

That's becouse old Polish had Singular, Plural and SomethingInBetweenWhichICantFindEnglishWordFor.

So - embrace our diversity - scientist will use 10^n anyway.

Re: How many millions are in a trillion?

#22

Post by lucumo »

JacobAldridge wrote: post #17
swombat wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for this awesome, insightful contribution to the conversation... not. Edit: seriously, do we upvote people for posting reddit-like links to vaguely related non-information now?

The graphic has done the rounds in many, many places, but it did generate 46 points and 35 comments here a few months back without an ad redditum comment. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=511285

Still doesn't make it relevant to this discussion, though.

Re: How many millions are in a trillion?

#23

Post by asmithmd1 »

eru wrote: post #20
ckinnan wrote: post #14

I saw some political polling a couple years ago-- people can't really conceptualize numbers this large. A slight majority of the poll actually thought a million dollars was more than a billion. People have a handle on the size of a million bucks because that amount occurs in regular life-- the price of a luxury home, etc. I think one of the reasons there isn't much outrage at the US government's $1.8 trillion deficit…

Yes. Stating the deficit per capita might put it in a better perspective for most people (e.g. me).

I think better to report the numbers per US household instead of per capita to give a realistic idea of your share. There are roughly 100 Million US households so for the $3.5 Trillion budget = 3.5 X 10^12/10^8 = $35,000/household That is a number I can understand

Re: How many millions are in a trillion?

#24

Post by tokenadult »

ajuc wrote: post #21

I've nerver understanded why exactly english metric system, date formating, and naming of big numbers is so inconsistent. When you write date, you have to natural way - from the the least significant bit:) to the most, and the other way around. And Americans use month/day/year. Perfectly intuitive :) Likewise - in long scale system there is simple rule - next name for big number is 10^3 times bigger. Indian system is…

That's becouse old Polish had Singular, Plural and SomethingInBetweenWhichICantFindEnglishWordFor.

The word is "dual" for the marked number between "singular" and "plural." Some other Indo-European languages, and some languages from other language families, distinguish singular, dual, and plural. I like languages like Chinese with no marked number at all in nouns, so words don't change form as you count things.

Re: How many millions are in a trillion?

#25

Post by lucumo »

lucumo wrote: post #22
JacobAldridge wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The graphic has done the rounds in many, many places, but it did generate 46 points and 35 comments here a few months back without an ad redditum comment. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=511285

Still doesn't make it relevant to this discussion, though.

Can the person who downvoted this, explain why it is relevant? Thanks.

Re: How many millions are in a trillion?

#26

Post by amelim »

lucumo wrote: post #25
lucumo wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still doesn't make it relevant to this discussion, though.

Can the person who downvoted this, explain why it is relevant? Thanks.

People are downvoting you because you are doing nothing to add to the conversation. Why not try to formulate your comments into a more meaningful discussion?

Re: How many millions are in a trillion?

#27

Post by jerf »

ajuc wrote: post #21

I've nerver understanded why exactly english metric system, date formating, and naming of big numbers is so inconsistent. When you write date, you have to natural way - from the the least significant bit:) to the most, and the other way around. And Americans use month/day/year. Perfectly intuitive :) Likewise - in long scale system there is simple rule - next name for big number is 10^3 times bigger. Indian system is…

I have a theory that the linguistic complexity of all languages and cultures (which I'd include things like measurements in) is a constant.

It's truly a beautiful theory, because "linguistic complexity" is virtually undefinable, so I can just define it such that my theory is true-by-tautology. Hooray!

However, it is true that all languages and cultures have historical quirks, irregular verbs, odd calendars, etc. Complaining about a specific one is just standing in a glass house and throwing stones. By the only metric that really matters, the people using m/d/y are almost never confused about it, which is why it is stable in the language and doesn't get replaced, so... what more can you reasonably ask for?

Local optima happen. shrug

Re: How many millions are in a trillion?

#29

Post by matt1 »

vladocar wrote: post #28

Just Wolfram-it http://www51.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1000000000000%2F10000...

You bring up a good point:

You can't easily make a verb out of their company name. There's no "Just Google it"...

Fail: "Just Wolfram it..." or "Just Wolfram-Alpha it"

A small point, maybe, but I wonder how much better they could have done with a better, less egotistical name.

Re: How many millions are in a trillion?

#30

Post by zackattack »

smanek wrote: post #10
zackattack wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it much more obvious? I would probably understand if I knew how you went about solving the problem. I am quite curious as to your thought process! My thought process involved these components: 1. Remembering heuristics for proportions. 2. Remembering that Million -> billion -> trillion 3. Knowing that 1000 million = 1 billion 4. Knowing that 1000 billion = 1 trillion 5. Knowing that 1000 * 1000 = 1 million

Dividing numbers with exponents is simple - you just subtract. A^B / A^C = A^(B-C) This is an obvious result of the rules of arithmetic. To use a concrete example: A^3/A^2 = A because A^3 is A x A x A divided by A^2 is A x A, then the two A's on the bottom cancel out with two of the A's on the top - leaving only one A on the top.

You didn't read my post. For what it's worth, I know how to divide with exponents. I'm curious why you think converting to exponents in the first place is so much more obvious.
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