Thursday 9 August 2018

Important Apples Facts

I was not particularly good at Maths at school. I still am ... not particularly good. But I find Maths very puzzling.

They said on TV News the other day that an apple is worth $1 trillion. I found this very concerning and confusing.

I was concerned that if an apple is worth that much, how much is bread, milk, eggs, and other commodities worth? I was pleased to have two apple trees in my garden which supply me with plenty of fruits in summer and autumn. The photo above is a sample of the last lot.

I was confused as to what 1 trillion was. I looked it up on Google. It said, "A trillion is bigger than a million, more than a billion, it's 1,000,000,000,000 (and even or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 in some countries)."

That confused me more. How can a number mean something in one country and something else in another? How can I go to the shop and ask for 6 apples in England and get a totally different number in another country? 

I then wondered whether anyone had ever counted to 1 billion or 1 trillion. Can you imagine playing hide and seek and having to count to 1 trillion instead of just 100?

For example, let us say that Christ was born 2018 years ago. I know the more pedantic amongst us will dispute this and have another figure in mind; but let us say it was 2018 years ago. This means Jesus was born 2018 multiplied by 365 = 736,570 days ago; or 17,677,680 hours ago. That's only about 17 million hours ago, (pedantics please cool off for a minute, or an hour). This figure is already too large to countenance, never mind multiplying it by minutes or seconds.

As I said in a previous Blog post, I was once a member of a research team in the desert and my task was to count the number of grains of sands. I counted up to 23 and got tired. So I can categorically claim that there are more than 23 grains of sand in the world. My calculation was more accurate than that of the other researchers who claimed that there were X trillion grains of sand in that desert. They had estimated the number of grains in a small area or volume and multiplied it by another number they thought of. But were they accurate? What if there were two grains of sand stuck together and they counted them as one?

Do you see what I am getting at? Big numbers just don't exist. It's pointless counting them. There are not enough computers in the world to count big numbers, never mind enough brains.

It's pointless saying a country owes X trillion £ or $. They'll never be able to pay it back. What will you do? Invade them? You might as well forget their debt once they owe more than $23 and start all over again. At least that will be more accurate. Countries should only be allowed to borrow $23 at a time. And if they can't pay it back then they borrow another $23 from another country. That makes good economic sense. But is anyone listening to me? No! I am not appreciated in my own time. But years from now people will be praising my economic theory as ground-breaking and better than all the other world's economic theories.

And another thing ... shoe sizes. Why do they differ so much? Where's the Maths in that?

How can a size 9 shoe in the UK, be size 10 in the USA and size 26.5 in Europe? And that's only men. In the USA it is size 11 for women. Why is that?

I bet it is not the only thing that measures differently from one country to another. How about hats, gloves, shirts, blouses, trousers? Do people measure differently in different countries?

Let's get our measuring tapes and compare measurements, shall we?

24 comments:

  1. Not to mention litre vs. gallons & cm vs. inches, kmph & mph...

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    1. Yep ... in the UK we have both. Thanx to being members of the European Community (until March 2019 when we leave).

      For example, we go to the pub and drink a pint of beer. We buy milk from the supermarket in litres. The bottle says on it 6 pints = 3.408 litres. We just bought some curtains in inches, even though all buildings these days are built in metres and cms. Temperature was always measured in degrees Centigrade. Now that it's been very hot in the UK the newspapers and TV tell us the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit because it reads bigger.

      Also, my blood pressure is going up and I can't measure it because the mother-in-law has just arrived on her broomstick at I don't know what mph or kmph. All I know is that she crashed against the garage wall!

      God bless.

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  2. Thanks for the trillion explanation, I always have to think about what a trillion is exactly.

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    1. It is easy Christine. A trillion is what you want it to be. You can add as many zeros behind the number 1 as you want. No one will count it anyway because they'll soon get tired counting and fall asleep. I usually fall asleep when I count up to 23.

      God bless.

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  3. well thats an explanation I have not heard before,, thank you for that!

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    1. It's so great to see you visiting me again, Laurie. Thank you so much.

      God bless.

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  4. Those numbers are staggering -- but I enjoyed your points … particularly the economics lesson!
    To answer your last question? Let's not! :)

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    1. My economics theory is simple, Mevely. It is based on a book I have read whilst writing it.

      The highest salary in the world should be $23, Whether one is a street cleaner or a company CEO no one should be able to earn more than $23. This means, a lot of people would earn $23 or less.

      This being the case. The price of things will come down. It is pointless building a house or a car worth millions if no one in the world can buy it. Houses, cars, food and all other commodities throughout the world will cost less. As long as the whole world practices this new policy together the balance between one person and another, and one nation and another, will remain the same. Only with less money all round.

      It will be like in the parable of the vineyard where the owner of the vineyard agreed to pay the first workers 1 denarius for the whole day. Not the salary people earn now.

      We will no longer need millions, billions or trillions of anything. Problem solved.

      As for measuring each other ...

      God bless.

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  5. I immediately thought of Emily Litella's (Gilda Radner) editorials on Saturday Night Live. Made me laugh. Good post, Victor, and timely!

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    1. I don't know who Emily Litella is, Terri. Looked her up on Wikipedia. Is she as good as me?

      God bless.

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  6. "I bet it is not the only thing that measures differently from one country to another. How about hats, gloves, shirts, blouses, trousers? Do people measure differently in different countries?"

    And even within the same country. Different brands have varying sizes in the same items. You wouldn't believe it, but try shopping as a woman!

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    1. Sandi, I DID try shopping as a woman ... and got arrested!

      God bless you. Keep smiling.

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  7. Numbers can get a bit confusing as they increase. I like the 23 limit. Now is that in €, $ or £. :)
    Thank you Victor.

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    1. Hi Bill. I am so glad you agree with my economics theory. It could be 23 of anything, Euros, £ and $ or whatever is the local currency. Just imagine, your friend or neighbour comes to you to borrow 23 Euros. You say, "No ... you have not paid me the last 23 Euros you borrowed!" He goes away to borrow from someone else and you have only lost 23 Euros, which is not much, is it?

      If every country was limited to borrowing 23 Euros, or £ or $, then we would not have such large debts as in Greece.

      God bless you; and thanx for supporting my view to world economics.

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  8. I get a headache when it comes to math. I hate measuring things and usually "eyeball it!" More often than not I get it right or wrong...but it fits :)
    Trillion is just another useless word for me. Billion...not much better than trillion! Million...a word that I won't use very often.
    As long as I can make change and keep my check book balanced...I'm good!!!

    A penny for your thoughts on my two cents worth :)

    Blessings Victor~

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    1. Jan, I like the idea of eye-balling things, but whenever I do that a woman slaps me in the face; or my wife hits me in the ribs with her elbow. Sometimes it is difficult for men to eye-ball. Not so for women.

      God bless.

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    2. "Not so for women."
      Just what do you think I am eye-balling? THE ANSWER...MEN!!!
      It works great for me now. They don't move as fast as they used to so I have time to focus my eyes on them now before they get away:)

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    3. But ... but ... what if they don't want to get away? They pretend to be slow ... It's either part of the modern chase or rheumatism !!!

      God bless you, Jan. Love your sense of humour.

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    4. Your sense of humor is catching and this is a good thing. As they say "Laugh and the world laughs with you...cry and you cry alone." I'll take laughing :)

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    5. God bless you always, Jan my friend.

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  9. You lost me at $1 trillion. Math is not my strong suit, but I got a good chuckle anyway. Thanks, Victor.

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    1. I bet you agree with me, Chris. Let's limit counting to just 23. Much easier.

      God bless.

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  10. Oh, good Lord! And to think that the USA is trillions of dollars in debt doesn't make this sit well with me. Math is not my friend! Lol!
    Blessings, Victor!

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    1. I know how you feel, Martha. They said on TV that the UK is also in great debt. I forgot how much, but I remember the News reader saying it was more than £23.

      Apparently, a lot of countries are in debt. I don't know to who? Someone told me they are in debt to each other. Like Country A owes Country B and Country B owes Country A and so on and on. Apparently the debts go on over a period of a long time; years and years.

      They also said on TV that we should not let the next generation have to pay the debts we have accumulated as a nation.

      This set me thinking. What happens when a man borrows from a bank and dies with no money? Surely the bank has to forget the debt. They can't chase his children.

      So the same with a Country. Every generation of say 30 years, all our debts as a nation should be forgotten and annulled.

      I shall write this in my book of economics. I am a genius, I think.

      What do you think?

      God bless.

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