Asheville daily citizen., 1894-03-12
DEALING WITH BILLIONS,


COmparisOn.
Although the words milliard and
billion are known by name to almost
everyone, yet the significance of the
numbers so expressed is by far not so
distinct and familiar to many II, the
meanings of the smaller numbers. For
example, if the breadth of street is
represented by l,0OO,O0O units. l,Oo0,-
600, 900 of such units would give dis.
tance equal to that from Hamburg to
San Francisco. If this is not rcmcm-
bercd we are apt to get very crrone-
Gus impressions. especially of as
Economical phenomena. AS our
earth measures in its great
est circumference only about
5000 miles, while the planets are dis
tant from the earth and from each
other spaces vary from S7,OOO,OOO TO
$500, ,00O,0 600 miles, accordingly most of
the distances which confront us on the
earth are to be regarded as vanishiEgly
small when compared with the dis
tances which confront us in the plane
tary system. On the other hand, the
nearest fixed stars have distances from
the earth, and consequently from any
point in the planetary system, as great
as from 27,00O, 900, 900 to 1900, ,OOO. 900. 900
miles. For example, Sirius is S@.OOO.-
600, 600 miles distant. Consequently. as
in the consideration of the distances Of
fixed stars, we have to deal with bill
lions, while in the case of planetary
distances we only deal with millions
of miles; also, all the distances of the
planets from one another must
be regarded as vanshingly small when
compared with the distances which
confront us in the realm Of the fixed
stars In other words, viewed from
Sirius, no: only the earth or sun. hut
our whole planetary system itself
would appear as an indefinitely faint
point of light, exactly rs Sirius APP
pears tous AS II luminous point
The reader will readily appreciate
that the number billion is generally
conceived too small, when We tell him
that the German emperor, William l.,
on his cighty-ninth birthday had lived
in the actual number of !S0S, ,ilS, 100
seconds, but that a billion seconds have
not elapsed since the origin of the hui
man species, reckoning the age of hu.
manity at 10000 wears 1t
will also seem hardly credible
that a billion new American
a'-ccnt pieces, placed one on top Of
another, would reach an altitude of
over l,O0O,OO miles, that is to say,
would form 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 formation of names for large mum.
bcrs might led MS to believe that the
people of early times never made use
of very large numerical statements
But this is not the ease More thar
1000 years ago there lived pcopl,
who, from pure motives of amusement
exercised their faculties in this domain
In India, where our present numcra
system was invented, names existed
even in Buddha's time, for numbers W
to 100, 900, 900, 900, and Buddha him
self, it is said, prosecuted the for
nation of numcral names to the mum
Der which we now denote by !, an,
tifty.four appended ciphcrs, and nigh
call nonnillionS. This strange passion
of the llindooS found fresh matcria
, for exercise when in the fourth ccntm,
J of our era the principa! of our prcsrn
, numeral system was invented by Hin
doc l,rahmin priests, and the cas-
methods of computation based on ,hi
system ditfuscd over all India 1t wa
now possible to multiply with facilit.
numbers of twenty places with on
another and to I've sure of the correct
ness Of the results, Nay. in the scvent
: century in India nri,hmctical tournS
, ments were held at which, as now 1
our chess tournaments, the great ma'
, ters OF arithmctical computation ghtl
, cred together, and he was crowned a
victor who outstripped all compel
|, tors, Prof. II. Schubert in The Ope
+ Court.
y only n Question of Time, Mrs