Learn to Understand Extreme Numbers From Different Angles
When you hear statistics and facts with very large numbers, it can be difficult to understand what that number actually represents. If you want to understand big numbers, you need to start changing points of view and converting them into more understandable numbers.
Researchers Dan Goldstein, Jake Hoffman of Microsoft, and Pablo Barrior of Columbia University are exploring ways in which people can truly understand large numbers, be it distance, money, population, or other general statistics. Their approach uses different perspectives to create useful landmarks. For example, “Americans have nearly 300 million firearms” would have a greater impact when translated as “about 1 firearm for every person in the United States.” Or, when dealing with large numbers in relation to time, you can break things up into different periods. For example, it is difficult to understand the difference between one million seconds and one billion. You know that a billion is clearly more, but it is difficult to imagine how much more. Using different perspectives, you can establish that one million seconds is almost 12 days, and one billion seconds is almost 32 years. Suddenly, the gap between them becomes much easier to catch.
Jeff Karp of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, who conducts research at the nanoscale, explains that it’s like learning a new language. The more you can break down extreme numbers, the more comfortable you will feel and the better you will learn to quickly understand them. You can read more about understanding extreme numbers at the link below.
How to understand extreme numbers | Nautilus