Name The

Big Numbers

Part I

Introduction

• You are the Big Number Generation! After college, you move to Europe and make a billion dollars! How did you do that? Are you a celebrity, an inventor, or did you marry royalty? After you enjoy your success in Europe, you move back home to the USA.
• Here is the mystery: When you return home, you still have a billion dollars but 99.9% less money than you did at the height of your success in Europe.
• What happened?

Task

Your first task is to:

• Solve the mystery of the 99.9% difference in the billion dollars that you had in Europe and the billion that you now have in the USA.
• Begin Part I of the report described below in process.
• When you have solved the mystery, see the instructor for your second task.

Process

·   Form groups of 2 to 3 students.

• Research the names for big numbers up to the 18^th power base ten (10¹⁸) in the American and the European numbering systems:

Big Numbers Site 1

Big Numbers Site 2

Make a group written report:

·   Page 1: Cover sheet with the names of the students in your group.

·   Pages 1 to 3: One or two paragraphs describing how each of you made your money in Europe. Did you make a billion as a group or did you have separate lives?

·   Appendix 1: Make an attractive 8” x 12” table of large number names of the American and European Systems that can also be used by your group for reference in part II of the assignment. Include all positive powers of 10 up to the 20^th power (from 10¹ to 10^20.)

• Appendix 2: Make an additional table of prefix translations for the powers of 10. For example: Billion has the prefix bi which means two. Trillion has the prefix tri which means 3. (Keep it very simple.)

Number Prefixes and Word Roots

Resources

A simple table:

http://home.comcast.net/~igpl/NWL.html

A more complete table:

http://home.comcast.net/~igpl/Powers1000.html

A dictionary of number prefixes:

http://home.comcast.net/~igpl/NWI.html

More about big number name systems:

http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/large.html

Evaluation of Part 1

·   20 points for Appendix 1: Attractive and clear table of the two systems.

·   10 points for Appendix 2: List of the prefix names.

·   20 points for Cover Page and Story:

Conclusion

·   We are not all playing by the same rules or using the same standards. In the business world (and also in the scientific community) we have to remember that the manner in which we communicate information and our ideas varies from region to region.