Math Is Fun Forum

MathsIsFun

Administrator

Registered: 2005-01-21

Posts: 7,713

Count to a Billion

How long does it take to Count to a Billion ... ?

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"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

Jai Ganesh

Administrator

Registered: 2005-06-28

Posts: 48,413

Re: Count to a Billion

Before viewing the page, I guess it takes about 30 years, counting every second. I shall view tha page and post my views later in the day.

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It appears to me that if one wants to make progress in mathematics, one should study the masters and not the pupils. - Niels Henrik Abel.

Nothing is better than reading and gaining more and more knowledge - Stephen William Hawking.

Jai Ganesh

Administrator

Registered: 2005-06-28

Posts: 48,413

Re: Count to a Billion

A nice page, MathsIsFun!
As a matter of fact, the common man would not be aware that billion is such a huge number! From the mathematical point of view, that is just the tip of the iceberg!
Some places 'billion' figures....
The age of the Sun is about 5 billion years,
the life expectancy of an average human being is about 2 billion seconds,
the edge of the Universe, as we know it today, is about 12 billion light years away,
the speed of light in vacuum is about 0.3 billion meters per second,
the visible spectra has wavelength ranging from 400 to 700 billionth of a meter,
and the most important among these,
a billionaire is a real rich man!

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It appears to me that if one wants to make progress in mathematics, one should study the masters and not the pupils. - Niels Henrik Abel.

Nothing is better than reading and gaining more and more knowledge - Stephen William Hawking.

JaneFairfax

Member

Registered: 2007-02-23

Posts: 6,868

Re: Count to a Billion

One of my idiosyncratic pastimes I used to indulge in was counting with a calculator. I would use a calculator to count as much as I could. When I stopped, I would save the last number counted to, so that I could resume from that number the next time.

I did this for a period of over six years, and during this time I managed to count to above ten million (10[sup]7[/sup]). To count to a billion (10[sup]9[/sup]) at this rate would take something like six hundred years!

MathsIsFun

Administrator

Registered: 2005-01-21

Posts: 7,713

Re: Count to a Billion

Nicely said, ganesh!  "and the most important among these, a billionaire is a real rich man!"

Jane: but what if you accidentally overwrote the current number?

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"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

JaneFairfax

Member

Registered: 2007-02-23

Posts: 6,868

Re: Count to a Billion

but what if you accidentally overwrote the current number?

Yeah, I did that a lot of the time.