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Counting by powers of ten
"What order of magnitude is ...?" game
Counting to ten billion... on your fingers
Lots of dots and
A million dots on one page
A dot for every second in the day (with a clock).
New! 2001 Apr
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Scaling the universe to your desktop
Meters in your hands
nano |
micro |
milli |
meter |
kilo |
mega |
giga |
tera |
peta
Constructing your own desktops.
How Big Are Things?
New! 2001 Feb
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Simplify
numbers |
How to simplify a number
by rounding ,
sometimes to an order of magnitude ,
sliding the decimal point ,
and using a number you can remember.
Another example of simplifying is A ball's volume and area are 1/2 of its box's.
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Exponential Notation
is sliding the decimal point.
An Exponential Notation Meta Page.
Rounding to an order of magnitude and
What is "order of magnitude"?
Scientific Notation
is exponential notation plus conventions.
How to write and speak the exponential notation
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| Fermis |
Fermi Questions
Rough quantitative estimates about the world.
Talamo's Fermi Problems site -
"What order of magnitude is ...?" game -
A Pinocchio estimation game New! 2001 Feb -
a mayonnaise story -
landmarks -
bounding -
honesty -
Why be approximate? -
On Being Approximate
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| Scale |
Scale of some things
`Powers of Ten' scales
people ,
people seconds ,
volume ,
area ,
length ,
time ,
mass ,
energy ,
area volume-density ,
speed ,
volume rate ,
power
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Developing "deep" understanding
If you can't explain it
to a nine year old...
(
Picturing altitude above maps -
teleportation -
probing near space with a flashlight
)
Getting a feel for big numbers
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For children -
Atomic bonding
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Body Ruler
Measuring length with your body.
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Resources
Books & some additional links.
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Cosmic View: The Universe in 40 Jumps
A copy of the 1957 classic which inspired Powers of Ten.
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