The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1894-02-23
vAsTNEss OF NUMBERS.
The Immensely ofn Billion Shown by Some
Interesting Companions.

The Immensely ofn Billion Shown by Some
Interesting Companions.
Although the words millard and billion
are known by name to almost every one,
yet the significance of the numbers so ex-
pressed is by far not so distinct and ia
miliar to many as the meanings of the
smaller numbers For example, if the
breadth of a street is represented by
100000 units, 100000, 900 of such
units would give distance equal to that
from Hamburg to San Francisco. If this
is not remem bered, we are apt to get very
erroneous impressions, especially of astro-
nomical phenomena. AS our earth meas
ures in it's greatest circumference only
about %, 900 miles, while the planets are
distant from the earth and from each other
spaces varying from 27,000, 900 to 4,600,-
900, 900 miles, accordingly most of the dis
tances which confront us on the earth are
to be regarded as vanishingly small when
compared with the distances which con-
front us in the planetary system. On the
other hand, the nearest fixed stars have
distances from the earth, and consequent
ly from any point in our planetary system,
as great as from 81 900, 900, 900 to 4 $780,
100000, 900 miles. For example, Sirius is
SO ,000, COO, 900 miles distant. Consequent
ly, as in the consideration of the distances
of fixed stars, we have to deal with bill
lions, while in the case of planetary dis
tances we only deal with millions of miles.
Also, all the distances of the planets from
one another must be regarded as vanish
ingly small when compared with the dis
tances which confront us in the realm of
the fixed stars. In other words, viewed
from Sirius, rot only the earth or sun. but
our whole planetary system ITSELF would
appear as an indefinitely faint point of
light, exactly as Sirius appears to us as a
luminous point.
The reader will readily appreciate that
the number billion is generally conceived
too small when we tell him that "A billion
seconds have not elapsed since the origin
of the human species, reckoning the age
of humanity at 80 900 years. 1t will also
seem hardly credible that a billion new
American 25 cent pieces, placed one on
top of another, would reach an altitude of
over 900, 900 miles-that is to say, would
form a cylindrical pile over four times as
high as the moon is from the earth.
The fact that the results of modern exact
science first required of language the for
LldUlOh VI III ltli hulllDClS
lead us to believe that the people of early
time never made use of very large numer
ical statements. But this is not the case
More than 1000 years ago there lived Il
people who, from pure motives of amuse,
ment, exercised their faculties in this do
main. In India, where our present nu-
neral system was invented, names exist
ed, even in Buddha's time, for numbers
up to 1000, 900, 900, and Buddha him
self, it is said, prosecuted the formation
of mineral names up to the number which
we now deuote by 1 and 81 appended CT
pliers and might call nonnillons. This
strange passion Of the Hindoos found fresh
material for exercise when in the fourth
century OF our era the principle of our
present mineral system was invented by
Hindoo Brahman priests and the easy
methods of computation based on this sys-
tenn diffused over all India. 1t was now
possible to multiply with facility numbers
of 20 places with one another and to be
sure of the correctness of the results.
Nay, in the seventh century in India arith-
metical tournaments were held at which,
as now in our chess tournaments, the
great masters of arithmetical computation
gathered together, and he was crowned as
victor who outstripped all competitions
Open Court.