Numbers scare me. I think I belong with the Pirahã, a hunter-gatherer tribe of Amazon natives who live in brazil. There are just three words to denote numbers in the language of the Pirahã - one, two and many. Again ONE doesn’t refer just to a single unit of anything. It could mean small or few. And they get by , even commercially transacting with people outside their tribe and they don’t seem to suffer terribly for lack of words for numbers. It also helps that their life is very simple – they don’t even have myths or folk tales or art and have no collective memory going back beyond 2 generations.
In the world of small children there are few numbers. I know of a lot of 2 year olds who think ten is a humongous number. Once they have begun to count up to 10, they begin to think 10 is the end of the number world. I had a cousin whose son used the word ten interchangeably with vast, huge, great or enormous. When he wanted to refer to something really really BIG he would say ‘It is BIG, 10 BIG’.And he would say that when he is TEN big he would become a policeman. Of course according to him his father’s age was 10.
This is not just the case with children. Apparently in ancient Hebrew 40 was used to refer to ‘many’. For instance if they said that someone lived up to 40, it doesn’t refer to the exact number 40 but that he lived for many years. Apparently their religious book has a lot of references to the number 40 in the sense of ‘many’.
It is likely that the word for thousand was used in a similar manner in Hindu Myths. Otherwise how could we explain statements such as this :
After a thousand years of pleasure, in which he ruled virtuously, Yayati was sated with lust
At the end of a thousand years of penance to please Brahma, Rāvana cut off his own head and threw it as an oblation into the fire.
King Dasaratha had sixty thousand wives or Rama ruled for many thousand years.
(Sixty thousand wives? if we hazarded a guess about the population levels in his time this might mean that he was married to every woman in his kingdom.)
I am not a great fan of numbers and get nervous when they go beyond 3 digits. While I would be too happy to live in a world where the largest number is 2 or 10 or 40 or 1000, I can tolerate numbers up to say 100 million. This is something I can relate to. But beyond that? I think we should stick to ‘Many’.
For example
A googol is a a large number equal to a 1 with 100 zeros following it. Now of what use is a googol to me? I cannot visualize it at all. According to this page a googol represents nothing that is available in the universe.
There is nothing that represents a googol in all of Universe!
The large number that can make some sense is
SEPTENVIGINTILLION which 10 to the power of 63 (10 followed by 63 zeros!) is the volume of the Universe in cubic inches.
But it is still useless for me – it is just ‘Many’.
The largest number that I can relate to , as I said before, is 100 million which I think is 10 crores. Someone once showed me the currency notes stacked in the currency chest of our bank and said that there was 10 crores of notes there. And I have seen a vast piece of land which was said to be valued at 10 crores. So I have a fair idea of what 10 crores looks like.
So if someone were to tell me that 10 raised to the power of 78 or QUINVINGTILLION represents the total number of atoms in the universe I would just hear it as “MANY”. I would not even miss it if one atom lost its way and we had just quinvingtillion minus one atoms. I am rather careless with large numbers that way. septenvingtillion, quinvingtillion - I am happy to put them all in one box labelled ‘MANY’.
I think there would be less dissatisfaction in the world if we didn’t worry too much about numbers. For instance a guy with 10 crore would not feel poorer compared to another who has 20 or 50 crores. 10 crore is a huge sum in itself and imagine being unhappy with that! Going by my method they would all be owners of MUCH money and hence equal.
The other day Shekar Suman ( of movers and shakers fame) made a valid point when he said that the difference between the fastest guy in the world and himself is just 5 secs.The world’s fastest man can cover 100 m in 9.69 secs and Shekar can do it in about 14.5 secs. Even I can do it in about 30 seconds I think. What is 21 seconds in our life – just a few winks! Why obsess over such small numbers! Is a person with 99.5% marks less intelligent than another who scored 99.6%. Sounds absurd but that is how we rate people these days.
I personally think there would be a lot more happiness if we did not get too anal about numbers. Imagine arithmetic problems . If the solution to a problem is 13.46389, we should be able to give an answer of 13 or 14 or many and still get full marks. Imagine how happy that would make students like me!
Don't laugh or call me silly, I can give you examples of some great minds who share similar thoughts:
See!
I know a lot of you there are numerically inclined and are even passionate about numbers. Dont get me wrong. I respect numbers too although i'd like to admire them from a safe distance. Despite being numerically challenged, I have a fair idea of the importance of large numbers or small fractions in scientific research and calculations, design and development, economics and astronomy and all sciences.
All I am saying is let us be a little relaxed about numbers in our day to day dealings and may be we could all be a little less dissatisfied with our lives or even be happy.
P.S: I won’t be around till the end of the month. Meantime look after yourselves and don’t do anything I might.
Much love and Many wishes!!
In the world of small children there are few numbers. I know of a lot of 2 year olds who think ten is a humongous number. Once they have begun to count up to 10, they begin to think 10 is the end of the number world. I had a cousin whose son used the word ten interchangeably with vast, huge, great or enormous. When he wanted to refer to something really really BIG he would say ‘It is BIG, 10 BIG’.And he would say that when he is TEN big he would become a policeman. Of course according to him his father’s age was 10.
This is not just the case with children. Apparently in ancient Hebrew 40 was used to refer to ‘many’. For instance if they said that someone lived up to 40, it doesn’t refer to the exact number 40 but that he lived for many years. Apparently their religious book has a lot of references to the number 40 in the sense of ‘many’.
It is likely that the word for thousand was used in a similar manner in Hindu Myths. Otherwise how could we explain statements such as this :
After a thousand years of pleasure, in which he ruled virtuously, Yayati was sated with lust
At the end of a thousand years of penance to please Brahma, Rāvana cut off his own head and threw it as an oblation into the fire.
King Dasaratha had sixty thousand wives or Rama ruled for many thousand years.
(Sixty thousand wives? if we hazarded a guess about the population levels in his time this might mean that he was married to every woman in his kingdom.)
I am not a great fan of numbers and get nervous when they go beyond 3 digits. While I would be too happy to live in a world where the largest number is 2 or 10 or 40 or 1000, I can tolerate numbers up to say 100 million. This is something I can relate to. But beyond that? I think we should stick to ‘Many’.
For example
A googol is a a large number equal to a 1 with 100 zeros following it. Now of what use is a googol to me? I cannot visualize it at all. According to this page a googol represents nothing that is available in the universe.
There is really nothing left to count.
We have spanned the universe from its smallest parts to its entirety.
There is nothing that represents a googol in all of Universe!
The large number that can make some sense is
SEPTENVIGINTILLION which 10 to the power of 63 (10 followed by 63 zeros!) is the volume of the Universe in cubic inches.
But it is still useless for me – it is just ‘Many’.
The largest number that I can relate to , as I said before, is 100 million which I think is 10 crores. Someone once showed me the currency notes stacked in the currency chest of our bank and said that there was 10 crores of notes there. And I have seen a vast piece of land which was said to be valued at 10 crores. So I have a fair idea of what 10 crores looks like.
So if someone were to tell me that 10 raised to the power of 78 or QUINVINGTILLION represents the total number of atoms in the universe I would just hear it as “MANY”. I would not even miss it if one atom lost its way and we had just quinvingtillion minus one atoms. I am rather careless with large numbers that way. septenvingtillion, quinvingtillion - I am happy to put them all in one box labelled ‘MANY’.
I think there would be less dissatisfaction in the world if we didn’t worry too much about numbers. For instance a guy with 10 crore would not feel poorer compared to another who has 20 or 50 crores. 10 crore is a huge sum in itself and imagine being unhappy with that! Going by my method they would all be owners of MUCH money and hence equal.
The other day Shekar Suman ( of movers and shakers fame) made a valid point when he said that the difference between the fastest guy in the world and himself is just 5 secs.The world’s fastest man can cover 100 m in 9.69 secs and Shekar can do it in about 14.5 secs. Even I can do it in about 30 seconds I think. What is 21 seconds in our life – just a few winks! Why obsess over such small numbers! Is a person with 99.5% marks less intelligent than another who scored 99.6%. Sounds absurd but that is how we rate people these days.
I personally think there would be a lot more happiness if we did not get too anal about numbers. Imagine arithmetic problems . If the solution to a problem is 13.46389, we should be able to give an answer of 13 or 14 or many and still get full marks. Imagine how happy that would make students like me!
Don't laugh or call me silly, I can give you examples of some great minds who share similar thoughts:
Twice two makes four seems to me simply a piece of insolence. Twice two makes four is a pert coxcomb who stands with arms akimbo barring your path and spitting. I admit that twice two makes four is an excellent thing, but if we are to give everything its due, twice two makes five is sometimes a very charming thing too. ~Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky
See!
I know a lot of you there are numerically inclined and are even passionate about numbers. Dont get me wrong. I respect numbers too although i'd like to admire them from a safe distance. Despite being numerically challenged, I have a fair idea of the importance of large numbers or small fractions in scientific research and calculations, design and development, economics and astronomy and all sciences.
All I am saying is let us be a little relaxed about numbers in our day to day dealings and may be we could all be a little less dissatisfied with our lives or even be happy.
P.S: I won’t be around till the end of the month. Meantime look after yourselves and don’t do anything I might.
Much love and Many wishes!!
"All I am saying is let us be a little relaxed about numbers in our day to day dealings and may be we could all be a little less dissatisfied with our lives or even be happy.".....Too true!
Amusing this number obsession :-)
... I personally think there would be a lot more happiness if we did not get too anal about numbers...
Uh, uh. I seriously doubt that. It was a face that launched a thousand ships, not a lowly number!
And, without a scale of one to googol, how could we ever compare Mallika Sherawat & Margarete Maultasch :)
Thoughout the last 60 years, a given number , besides having a universal value, has changed in the way it is relevant to living. When I finished school, getting a 70% was considered great and parents smiled. Today you would be the laughing stock with 6000 people scoring 98.32%.
When numbers start losing relevance, and we need to take wild swings between SEPTENVIGINTILLION and NANO etc, maybe its time to redefine a new number system ? Like devaluing currency and defining new stuff?
Thats why we see, that today people have no value for money....but a child who holds out its little arms so wide in reponse to "how much...." always manages to convey the exact thing....
Numbers! Wish I could do away with them, alas, I am always outnumbered in this opinion!
i studied literature and spend all my time working with numbers, math and numbers were and are my biggest stress...oh to have a world without numbers...lol...not possible but a girl can dream. enjoy your time off.
aah reminds of a book that i used to read to my then 4 yr old - numbers suddenly disappear from the world and the confusion that follows - no numbers on coins/notes, houses, streets etc.
but lovely post usha, and hope you have a great trip!
lol intesresting to hear about fear of numbers from someone from banking. haha..but you seem to have quite a liking for it actually!
I have no obsession and so you lost me half way through the post adn I jumped to to last para.
whereever you are for the rest of the month, you be good too and '2' wishes from my tribe.
Numbers Numbers & Numbers....
hahaha! only you could have made this fun and sensible! :D
i am one of them number haters! maths was the bane of my life, but thankfully i can do my simple addition and substractions and get right change back!
and sometimes if i dont, i dont fret about it too much! :p
have fun traveling!
cheers!
abha
Simply loving ur blog..wish ur blog had a follow option, i would have loved to follow it.
Will be coming back for more..
guess what! my daughter managed 95 % and yet she is not too happy. The reason? there are some 20 odd kids who managed more than her. No value for numbers.
I also read that 1lac is no more considered high value in banks :-)
Seriously numbers are becoming too big these days!
Brillianto post there. BTW have a good break
A very interesting post! My son is 4 and he thinks 4 is the big number. "Daddy, why can't I drive? I am 4.", "He is only 3, he is a baby!"
For many reasons Usha your post makes complete sense to me:)
ok before you call me shallow and an MCP...
a lot of women I know, don't seem to think 32 and 36 are the same! To me however they are.
catch my point?
i have been directed to your blog by some one. according to that person we think in same lines. So I am going to follow you now onwards.
Well said Usha. Numbers dont matter. Moments, thoughts, love, trust and belief are the ones that guide us and need to matter.
That was a lovely post. I agree to the philosophy of not running around the zeros in our day to day life. Making everything as Many makes life so peaceful.
I really loved that Big=10 trivia.
Honestly, when I started learning numbers after thos initial numbering, we start with unit, ten, hundred, thousand, and stop. and later in the advanced maths we learn about lakh, however crore calculations were comparitively lesser.
In physics, chemistry lessons I learn about this milli, micro, nano (the reverse) etc.,
Recently, everbody talks in terms of trillion, zillions, pentazillion(??) and all the crap..
The most common observations that I made is this, after we learnt about this KB, MB, GB(Kilo bytes), we tend to add K to everything. In one of our casual discussions my friend says, I paid 53K for this scooter.. ! K = 1000 ?? aargh, what a transition?
Sue: :)
Rads: Indeed!
The RF: Ah, how come I didn't think of that!
Ugich:I like the idea of redefining the number system and I strongly suggest that we should stop around two or three digits. :)
Totally agree with your last point too.
Maami: you have one more on your side now.
AF:World without numbers - ah, I think we should all join the Piraha.
Chox:I can see the stress it would create in today's world where we want to put a number to everything.
Thank you - am already there and loving it.
Shy:Thank you twice!
Vishal: you could say that again!
Abha:Hehehe. Thanks.
Viyoma: I think it does. How is it I seem to have some followers - I wish I knew how to do it.
WIAN: Where were you all these days? welcome back. And great news about the daughter's score.
Suresh: Isnt it adorable when they say that!
Jane; Why doesn't that surprise me at all! :)
Max:Totally catchu the pointu ba and agree too.
Anju: Welcome to the club!
Vamshi:I agree too.
Veena:Oh my god so many numbers. I am happy to go with the boy and think 10 is the largest number. Makes life easy no?
Numbers do not baffle me.But they do annoy me when they're used as tools of comparison.Like a mother who said that her son in law to be was earning a lot less than many other IT pros whose monthly salary was around 70,000/- per month but she hoped that with her daughter working the two would manage a decent living.I really wish that the part of their brain that recognises numbers would do the vanishing act.What do they know about the lay man who barely manages to make ends meet?Is he not leading a decent respectable life?
Numbers can be annoying..Having important things reduced to just a number..Not least of all ..weight!
PS..I know what a 100 trilion dollars looks like.Got my hand on some Zimbabwe dollars
Usha I loathe numbers unless they're on my bank statement .
"The other day Shekar Suman ( of movers and shakers fame) made a valid point when he said that the difference between the fastest guy in the world and himself is just 5 secs"
It may be just 5 secs but thats 50 % more. And if every sprinter thinks that way , will the world record be ever broken again?
Hipgran: Ya these kind of comparisons annoy me too. When we were young if we got 95 percent in Math, parents would be very happy. Now I know parents who ask the child: 'where did the other 5 marks go?'
Shilpa: wow, trillion...hm...must be quite a lot. How many zeros in a trillion by the way?
Eve's Lungs:Don't they look lovely on the bank statement. But my balance never crosses 5 digits so I am safe there too!
RGB: Hey, seeing who made the statement and in what context I said that, it should have been obvious that we are all being facetious.
In any case I don't care for records.
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