We all know trillion is the new billion. Just as we used to say "billion with a B" to distinguish it from mere million, now we say "trillion with a T." But how much larger is a trillion? — to the innumerate, they're just big numbers, what's the deal with a few extra zeros? An apocryphal tale may help illustrate: An incredibly wealthy man tired of his wife, so he gave her a billion dollars and told her to go shopping, spend a million dollars a day, and don't come back 'til your done. To his dismay, she was back in about two years and nine months (do the math). He figured, that didn't work. So he gave her a trillion dollars. And she was gone for almost three thousand years.
Monday, March 9, 2009
How Much Is a Trillion?
We all know trillion is the new billion. Just as we used to say "billion with a B" to distinguish it from mere million, now we say "trillion with a T." But how much larger is a trillion? — to the innumerate, they're just big numbers, what's the deal with a few extra zeros? An apocryphal tale may help illustrate: An incredibly wealthy man tired of his wife, so he gave her a billion dollars and told her to go shopping, spend a million dollars a day, and don't come back 'til your done. To his dismay, she was back in about two years and nine months (do the math). He figured, that didn't work. So he gave her a trillion dollars. And she was gone for almost three thousand years.
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