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Metric numbers

Learning objectives

  • To illustrate the construction of numbers from 1 to 10,000,000,000 with the decimal system.
  • To compare a variety of numeral units.
  • To distinguish value and quantity.

It is difficult to imagine huge quantities. Large numbers take on more meaning if we associate them with a magnitude, and if we can compare them with each other.

  • Compare the population of Belgium (10 million inhabitants) with that of India (1.3b illion inhabitants).
  • Compare the annual drinking water consumption of a Canadian (150,000 liters) to the consumption of a Moroccan (25,000 liters)
  • Compare the arrival of the first land animals (400 million years ago) and the appearance of homo-sapiens (300,000 years ago)
  • Compare the duration of the "Carboniferous" geological period that is at the origin of our hydrocarbon reserves (65 million years) to the probable duration of 300 years for modern man to deplete this resource.
  • The great pyramid of Giza is 500 times heavier than the Eiffel Tower.

This animation makes it possible to represent and compare quantities up to one billion.

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