Smyrna times., 1866-03-14
NJ | : { f. l. l. \ N.OCS
Wonderful Properties of Figures.


Though figures con.titute universal Ian.
guage aIn"ne the civilized nations Of the earth
and maintain such an exalted character for bn.
hcSty ami truth that It has passed into a pro
verb that figures cannot iic,' vet they are
treated aS the mere slaves OF calculation. with
uut any rrsard for that respect and cun>idcrn-
tioh 10 WHch their peculiar qualities cntitle
! utHl: 10 rcSrll" them from the DEGRADATION
ol pclhS I9"Aed upon as mere cunvcnicnce>, let
us see II they arc not POSSESSED of certain in
trlIi>lc properties which shall excite our wonder
| and al nration
Few people have a clear conception Of even
mil.!Gn of dollars. Nr. Longworth. who
recently div'i 1T CINCINNATI was said to hc worth
fifteen million, of dollars. How many daT.
would II take to count that sum- at the rate of
! MY dollars minute. working steadily ten
| hours each day While some are GUESSING
1our or hvc days. another week another tyo
weeks or month. the operation NAV be made
mentally. Fifteen millions divided by fifty
gives three hundred thousand minutes: diyid
ed by sixty gives five thousand hours divided
by ten yves five hundred days! An answer
Which Is sure to strike your guc>scrs with
amazmeht remarnkablc instance Of the diff
terence between guessing ana thinking
The puwcr> Of the human understanding are
nlnlte'i The Increase of figures has no limits.
Our knowledge Of numbers, therefore, must
necessarily he limited But, like every other
subject the more We study and think about it.
the mo { We shall know. \ distinguished phi
Iosophcr, to whom the world is indebted for
some OF ia" greatest truths of science has said
thU without any extraordinary endowment of
inlnd' ~ thinkln" long and deeply on this sub
}rct, point after point gradually untodcd itself
70 ms mental vision. until he was able to com
Hrhend the mighty laws which control the
uInrcr,c.
The child who ha~ learned to count as far as
throc, las an l!"a OF that number; but the |
luInbc. tHlrt"'n Il qH.tc icyund his comprc-
Lcn>lo4. The savage ,srt, along very well with I
his arr r'h"rtlc, - hong a. he is not required to
90 bey 'nd the numclaton Of his fingers and .
toes h'. any greater number quite bcwdorS
his I'M ;-lnat!un and, in despair he refers to
thc ha:> o! tn. head, leaves Of the forrest or
the san l. of the ,,a>horc, to express his over
~hG Inning SENSE Of fit> magnitude Every youn.,
student %! hI3tory ha, laughed at the extreme
,lmpHc.ty and ignorance of the Indian whom
Fowlia:an srnt to England to sec the country
thd mi out how many people werc there
AS oGoh Aa the shores of England were reach
3D. the poor Indian procured long stick
anu commenced to clr-a' notch on it for every
me he saw. OF course, he was soon Obliged
% stop.
On his return, Powhatau, among MANY 9th
Il questions, asked how many people he had
seen. Count the stars in the sky" was tLr
'cpy the lcayCs on the trees or the sands IN
he shore for such is the number of the En-
.llsh. Perhaps this untutOred child of the
crest was not SO very far astray after all for
he stars in both LcIuispheres visible to the
laked eye, do not exceed the number of ten
thousand. The hairs OF the head and the leaves
i the trees may be easily counted, and the
andS OF the sea-shOre are by no means innu- a.,
lerable
POWERS OF CIPHERS. {
The enlightened man may have clear un- g
crstandIng OF thousands, and even millions :
ut much beyond that he can form no distinct /
lea. simple example, and one easily solv- o
d, Will illustrate the observation If all the +,
asst bodies OF water that cover nearly three :
'urths Of the whole surface Of the globe were h
nptlcd, drop by drop, into one grand rcscr- n
or, the whole number of drops could be writ t,
N by the two words, : eighteen Septillions, -
nd expressed in figures by annexing twenty
'ur clphcrs to the number s (lS, 900, 900 0D0,-
O,OOp0O0,0O0U0O) Man might as we'll at Il
'mpt to explore the bounds OF eternity. as to % :.
'rin any rational idea Of the units embodied y
the expression above; for, although the ag- I
regate OF drops is indicated by figures in the = =
PACE OF only one inch and 4 half Of ordinary n
rlnt, yet, II each particular drop were noted y
StiOhc AlhO tuc HBurc L., 1L would
rm line OF marks sufficiently long to wind
ound the sun six thousand billions Of times p
Now, observe, if you please, the marvellous n !
1wer OF value wkich the eiphers insignificant II IT
themselves, give to the significant figures ic
:. The young reader will be surprised to ia ia
arm that tho Use OF the cipher to determine l.
e value OF any particular figure, which is now "
'acticod by every schoolboy was unknown to y'
&c ancients. Therefore, among the Greeks h'
ID Romans, and other nations OF antiquity,
ithmetioal operations were exceedingly te,
Gus and difficult. They had to reckon with st
tie pebbles, shells or beads, used as counters Of
transact the ordinary business Of life. Even fe
c great Cicero, in his Grafton for Roscius, a
c actor, ia order To express 100000, had TO ,lr
AXE use of the very awkward and cumbrous of
tation, .0COIo99 CGGEe29 CCcIoo0. How very on
d this .seems~' an the year Of our Lord er
1CcOLXvI!" (lS6d } 5 ,..- III. .... ..,.. th