The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-08-12
A MERE MATTER OF FIGURES.
Problems That WouId Send hay
Mathematician Crazy.
(From the Chicago News)


/ Problems That Would Send Aay
Mathematician Crazy.
From the Chicago Newa)
I'm up stump" confessed a puz-
zled young man the other day as be ran
his fingers through his hair and look d
the picture of perplexi.y. Il thought L
could do figures, ana L believe I can yet;
but my theories of life are sadly shaken
! By them daffy friend OF mine who calls
I himself a socialist started me going on a
problem. He said he could prove that con-
! tinued compound interest would ruin the
J world in the course of time, and therefore
! interest was wrong
| Flow does-he figure that out?v queried
| the worried youths confdant
How doesn't he figure 1t out?" is a
! better question" was the queruious ans
wer. He has set my brain going until
| it whirls with trying to multiply trillions
, by the infinite. Wait till I tell you what
! ne sprung on me.
/ He said and l laughed at him. that a
cent put at per cent compound interest at
| the year 1 would now have value equal 10
| the weight Of the solar system in gold for
I each and every second Ct tine since the be-
! ginning of the Christian era / thought he
was crazy, but l figurki it out and found it
! was right"
Why. believe you're crazy, too Hurt
ed out the confdant witn a look combining
compassion and curiosity
mo, III show you how the figures are
all straight You can easily figure out that
money at s per cent doubles itself in
twelve years That's easy to understand
At the end-of the first twelve years A. D.
it would be worth cents. At the end OF
the second txelve-year period it would be
worth 4 cents. At the end OF the fourth it
would be worth 16 cents. At the enc OF
the sixth, or at ~ A. D., it would be
worth 81 cents. Seventh, or 81 A. D.,
would be land it at 1886. Doubling every
twelve years, you see. The ninth period
would take it to S5-12, and the tenth, OF
at 120 A. D., would make It S10.24
I'm other words, at the end Of 40 years
/ the cent would have increased at per
cent compound interest to be worth SO.
| That is q thoUsSud times worth wha. 1t
was at the start. The next 100 years would
see it worth LOCO times more. or $4,000.
instead of 80. The year $50 would bring
it through three 1za-year periods and
would tx its worth a. SO. 600. 600. Each
period Of 40 years would, you understand,
add three eiphers. which is the same as
multiplying 1t by / 000 At $50 A. D. il
would be worth $4,000, coo, coo. By 720 A.
d. $4,000. 0G0. 0O0. 0G0.000 would be ITS
value. Add three more sets of ciphers for
the next three 120-year periods and bring
would be at the end Of 1850 a. D., wouldn't
It?
From 1880 A D. to 1900 A. D. Is 40
years, equal to six of the 120-year periods.
That would mean adding six more sets of
Zeros to bring 1t down to the beginning of
this century. The figure would look
like $40 900 COO 00e coo COO 600 600 Ood 0O0,-
000. eco 900 geo, 0O0 Pronounce that il you
cam There still remain a hundred years
more of compromising interest As fgur-
ed out few minutes ago. it took eight
twelye-year periods, or ninety-six years
to increase the cent to S2.56. The ninety
six years Is about the same as a century.
and to get what the cent would now be
worth we would simply multiply our last
big sum by 256, which would give $780,,
0aO 0o0 c0o 600 600 0C0 GOO 600 Geo 0e0 900 .G01
O00 COO. Wouldn't that fade John D.
Rockefeller?
Now for the number of seconds in the
1900 years. Sixty seconds make a minute,
$500 in an hour and S6.400 in a day is the
way they run. In a year of 800 days there
are 31526, 600 seconds, in a century 100
times that, and in nineteen centuries 1900
times that. or 5991s, 400. 600 seconds since
the birth of Christ. Call it 100000 600 coo.
Divide our big sum of gold by sixty billion
and you WI have the amount of S42,COc,-
O6e, 600 Gee eco 0G0, Gee eco Gee 600 600. Count
the ciphers and you viii see I am right.
That inconceivable sum represents the
value of the cent compounded by Los 1900
times for each second Of the 1890 years,
Gold is worth $50 an ounce, or
$2i0 q pound troy weight, twelve
Dunes to the pound. Per ton it is worth
$3.50. Gee. or. approximately, S5G0.ee0- In
the last big sum l named there would be at
that rate 81 GOO CO0.000. Gee Goa. o0e. 000 0OO.-
0ol tons. According to the Encyclopaedia
Britannica the weight OF the earth is about
6, eco Geo Gee. 000. Geo, GC0,0 eco tons. The mass
Of the sun is about ? 000.o00 times that of
the earth. Multiply the earth's weight by
2,000 coo and you will have room for about
forty more solar systems in the big total
Of tons. Consequently it is as | said; A
cent put at compound interest at the birth
of Christ would now be worth in gold
sum equal to the weight of the entire
solar system expressed once for each sec
ond of that long time.
If that isn't enough to overturn any
theory of interest l ever thought OF I'll
my head. If reasoning in mathematics
drives one to such ineonceivable conclu-
sions, what must reasoning in sociology
do? It's my opinion that all the social
philosophers that ever drew breath can't
figure anything about it. I'm going to
quit worrying over 1t or I'll get thin. and
the next time | see my -ocialist friend I'll
tell him to take vacation and come back
TO earth