this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2024
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Virtually everyone fails to grasp exactly how large of a number a billion is. It’s so, so much bigger than the ”very big number” people think of when they hear the word.
The difference between one million and one billion is roughly one billion.
A million seconds is a little over 11 days.
A billion seconds is a little over 31 years.
Billionaires should be required to count out their dollars individually every few days.
While having someone scream random numbers at them as they count. Fuck em!
I wonder if world class mathematicians have a much better grasp of it — and yet fail to use their expertise to point out the absurdity of the current wealth inequality
Or do even they, world class mathematicians, not really ‘grasp’ it in this wildly important and urgent sense.
In my experience mathematicians don't really concern themselves with numbers between 2 and infinity.
Rings a bell and mostly answers my question, kinda sorry to say