Source:
http://mathnexus.wwu.edu/Archive/problem/detail.asp?ID=135
Consider this list
of numbers, in increasing order:
.
.
Match one of the
above numbers as a "best" estimation
of each of the following
items:
.
|
1.
Number of people in the world
2. Number of
grains of sand that would fill
a sphere the size of the earth
3. Average
number of hairs on one's head
4. Age of the
universe (in years)
5. Number of
possible chess moves in a chess game
6. Number of
times your heart beats in your life
7. Number of
words in the English language
8. Number of
atoms in the universe
9. National
debt (in dolars)
10. One light-year
(distance light travels in a year) in miles |
.
Good luck!
.
.
|
 |
Drawing
from tom on 8/21/2009 |
.
.
Hint:
Do some estimations....
some calculations...
some eliminating....
some comparisons....
and some Internet searching.
Source: Tom Swanson's
"Large Numbers,"
Oregon Mathematics Teacher, Dec. 2003, p. 37.
.
.
|
 |
Finger pointing down
from darrell94590 on 1/2/2006 |
.
..
THE SOLUTION
1. Number of
people in the world
From: http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html
The world population is 6 billion.
2. Number of
grains of sand that would fill
a sphere the size of the earth
After answering the other nine questions,
this one must be 400 nonillion.
3. Average number
of hairs on one's head
From: http://www.enotes.com/science-fact-finder/human-body
........../how-many-hairs-an-average-persons-head
The average number of hairs on a person's head is about 100,000.
4. Age of the
universe (in years)
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_universe
The universe is between 13.5 and 14 billion years old.
5. Number of
possible chess moves in a chess game
From: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/chess1.htm
The number of possible chess moves is 1x10^120.
6. Number of
times your heart beats in your life
From: http://caramoan-kanvar.blogspot.com/2007/11
........../human-heartbeats-in-lifetime_07.html
During your lifetime, it will beat some two-and-a-half billion times.
7. Number of
words in the English language
From: http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/JohnnyLing.shtml
The compendious Oxford English Dictionary lists about
500,000 words; and a further half-million technical
and scientific terms remain uncatalogued.
This is probably the 800,000 number on the list.
8. Number of
atoms in the universe
From: http://pages.prodigy.net/jhonig/bignum/qauniver.html
"Atoms in the universe" spans from 10^78 to just under 10^81.
9. National
debt (in dolars)
From: http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
The national debt is 11 trillion dollars.
So this is probably the 6 trillion on the list done in 2003.
10. One light-year
(distance light travels in a year) in miles
From: http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs
........../StarChild/questions/question19.html
One light-year is equal to 9,500,000,000,000 kilometers.
So this is probably the 7 trillion on the list done in 2003.
It is absolutely amazing
that I could answer nine of these ten
questions
in less than an hour using the internet. The age
we are
living in is completely mind boggling. |
