We’d like to talk about the numerical system, with a simple explanation of how it all came about. In school, we learned how to count. It was so easy. If we could count from one to ten, we could extrapolate that into the hundreds and thousands and even millions.
When cave people first saw that they had 10 fingers and 10 toes (The lucky ones) they could ‘count’ to 20. (It may just have been grunting in those days) That was the most important number there was. If a hunter brought back 23 rabbits, he could only brag to the others that he bagged 20. The extra three rabbits would be in a ‘new math’ category. With the advent of the James Webb Space Telescope we realize that there are far more stars, systems and galaxies in the see-able universe than we could count on all of humanity’s fingers and toes. The latest ‘breakthrough’ in numbers seems to be a new prime number. I know; why is this such a big deal?
Despite being a ridiculously huge number, it will take up more space than the sum total of all the cute cat videos that have ever or will ever be sent in the known universe.
The new prime, known as M77232917 can’t be divided up without using fractions. (A ‘fraction’ is something we were taught that is less than one and one is the smallest number. We don’t use fractions unless we’re dividing pizza. A pizza with 8 slices can be divided equally between a non-prime number of people, but there might be an argument, and the pizza will get cold)
The further we expanded our knowledge of numbers, we found that as we discovered new ways of counting, there could be an almost infinite number associated with almost anything. What’s a quadrillion? A quadrillion is the number 1,000,000,000,000,000, or one followed by 15 zeros. A trillion is 1,000 billion, and a quadrillion is 1,000 trillion. How could we utilize that big a number? Is there anything on Earth that could equal that number?
According to researchers, there are an estimated 20 quadrillion ants on Earth, which is about 2.5 million ants for every human. This doesn’t mean you get your own personal ants to fry under a magnifying glass. You’d be there all month. This number comes from a 2022 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study synthesized data from almost 500 studies on insect diversity across all continents, biomes and habitats. That’s all well and good, but who counted that high? Most (I’m hoping) ants are underground, hiding from counters. I’m reminded of the scam that the cleaning product 2,000 Flushes tried to pull on us. Realizing that the average consumer would never really test the amount of ‘true blue’ in their toilet water, they told us we could flush 2,000 times and the water would be as azure as the sky on a cloudless day. And the so-called million candle power flashlight? I don’t think so.
Numbers help us put things in perspective. Facebook recently hit 3 billion users per month and there are still not enough emojis to tell our buds how we really feel.
