Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Time As Money-A Million, Billion, Trillion

It is not easy to comprehend the difference between a million, a billion and a trillion.  These numbers are thrown around everyday in discussions about the federal budget but it is hard to wrap your mind around anything without context.

This example from John A. Schweizer in today's Wall Street Journal provides a good way to see what a trillion is in terms of time.

One million seconds is approximately 11.5 days.

One billion seconds runs nearly 32 years.

One trillion seconds represents more than 30,000 years.

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