Glossary

Key terms for understanding large numbers, scale, and why your brain struggles with magnitude.

B

One billion (1,000,000,000) is 10^9, or one thousand millions. A billion seconds is about 31.7 years.

A googol is 10^100 (1 followed by 100 zeros). It far exceeds the number of atoms in the observable universe (~10^80).

A googolplex is 10^googol, or 10^(10^100). It cannot be written out in full because it has more digits than atoms in the universe.

Innumeracy is the mathematical equivalent of illiteracy: the inability to understand and work with numbers and basic mathematical concepts.

One million (1,000,000) is 10^6, or one thousand thousands. A million seconds is about 11.5 days.

An order of magnitude is a factor of 10. Two numbers differ by one order of magnitude if one is roughly 10 times the other.

One quadrillion (10^15) is one thousand trillions or one million billions. A quadrillion seconds is about 31.7 million years.

A way of writing very large or very small numbers as a coefficient multiplied by a power of 10. For example, 3,000,000 = 3 × 10^6.

One trillion (1,000,000,000,000) is 10^12, or one thousand billions. A trillion seconds is about 31,710 years.

A principle in psychophysics stating that the perceived intensity of a stimulus is proportional to the logarithm of the actual intensity.

Definitions are a start. Visualization is where understanding begins.