Is that a big number? /
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Oxford :
Oxford University Press,
2018.
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| Edition: | First edition. |
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| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
Table of Contents:
- COVER; IS THAT A BIG NUMBER?; COPYRIGHT; BEWILDERED BY BIG NUMBERS?; DEDICATION; CONTENTS; Introduction-Numbers Count; Introduction; The world is chaotic; Numbers count; Developing number sense; Five ways to think about big numbers; Everything connects; Numerical serendipity; For your numerical delight; Random alignments; The First Technique: Landmark Numbers-When You're Lost, Look for Landmarks; PART 1 COUNTING NUMBERS; What Counts?-How We Get from 1, 2, 3 to 'How Many Fish in the Sea?'; Counting up; What does it mean to count?; Counting (like) crows; The calculus of counting sheep.
- Counting is singing; Feynman can count and read; Tukey can count and talk; Singing is counting; Keeping tallies; Approximate counting; How big is Yankee Stadium?; When is 'more or less' good enough?; How many fish in the sea?; How many stars in the sky?; So, what counts?; How big is a billion?; Numbers in the World-How Numeracy Connects to Everyday Life; The age-old question: How strong is the beer?; What is numeracy?; It's not mathematics; It's not accounting; Folk numeracy versus scientific numeracy; We're innumerate, but literate; Words about numbers; Why do words matter?
- Words embracing numbers; Etymology of unit names; Scientific notation; The powers of a thousand; Where do the big numbers start?; Firm ground; Where do I reach my numerical depth?; Exposure to big numbers; Visualising a thousand; Powers of a thousand in language; All roads lead to a thousand; Precision; The Second Technique: Visualisation-Paint a Picture in Your Mind; How big is a billion?; Unsquaring; How many tennis balls does it take to fill St Paul's?; PART 2 MEASURING UP; Measurement; What it means to measure; About the Size of It-Numbers to Quantify the Space We Live in.
- The Long and the Short and the Tall; Made to measure; Out and about; Metre for measure; Measuring the things around us; Sports: heights; Sports: distances; How big is a football field?; How far can you throw that thing?; Sports: equipment; The Long versus the Tall; Buildings and other structures; Routes and roads; Crossing continents; Rivers; The Lego world; How far is 1000 km?; How high is 100 metres?; The Third Technique: Divide and Conquer-Take One Bite at a Time; Distributing the load; Pick your units and your multiples; Ticking Away-How We Measure the Fourth Dimension; It's about time.
- The wheels of time; Time is change; Giving the time of day; It's that time of year; Some things just won't fit; Turning years into numbers; Measuring prehistory; Time and technology; The far future; What happened a thousand years ago? A number ladder for time; An Even Briefer History of Time; Geological time by the numbers; Human prehistory by the numbers; The evolution of Homo sapiens; The big migration; Technological landmarks; Ancient history by the numbers; 5000 years and more ago (3000 bce and before); 4000-3000 years ago (2000 bce to 1000 bce); 3000-2500 years ago (1000 bce to 500 bce).