Articles Tagged with big numbers

Non-spectacular spectacles

Seeing astronomical events

Moon in eclipseA total solar eclipse is an amazing spectacle.  You might not even notice other astronomical events.

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Greece vs. Bablylon

Two kinds of mathematics

Mathematics, at almost any level, can be either practical or ideal.  Problems arise when the two kinds are confused.

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An unlikely number

The weight of history

When does it make sense to change an obsolete and unwieldy system?

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If it’s worth doing. . .

Why bother with tentative research?

tandwOur astronomer ponders the state of the science in the middle of the last century, when things were so different and difficult.

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The distance to the stars

A matter of small and big numbers

parallaxHaving mentioned the difficulty of finding the distances to stars last week, our astronomer tries to put some unfamiliar numbers within your grasp.

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A plausible assumption

It’s reasonable and makes sense, but it’s wrong

mapOur astronomer describes how an assumption widely made in his science in past years turned out to be completely erroneous.

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Applied numerology

Why astronomers are natural translators

thermoOur astronomer offers an apology and an explanation.

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No more trade-offs

It’s easier when you can have it all

slide rule and log tableLife was more complicated in the old days. Not only were many things more difficult and tedious to accomplish, often you had to work out which of several methods you should use depending on what you really needed done. It’s much easier now. Really.

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What were the odds against that?

Concidence, probability and asking the right question

Our chief consultant writes:

diceWe’ve all had it happen: some unexpected, unusual occurrence, and someone asks: “What were the odds against that happening?” As an exclamation, an alternative to the pedestrian, “That’s unusual,” this is fine. Language should have flexibility and the freedom of metaphor. This becomes a problem, however, when the unusual event is taken to imply unknown laws of physics or perhaps sinister forces at work.

Actually working out probabilities in any but the simplest cases can be pretty tedious, and we’re not about to get into that here. But it’s easy to make basic mistakes in setting up this kind of question (respected scientists have done so); we present two rules to help keep you out of trouble, even if you’re not going to punch any numbers into your computer.

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Big numbers in science communication

table of astronomical numbersOur astronomer writes: In his book Wind, Sand and Stars, Antoine de Saint Exupéry tells the story of a group of Bedouin from the Sahara brought to metropolitan France. This was in the days of the French colonies in North Africa, and the intent was to impress them with the greatness of the civilization of Europe (or at least its power) so they would stop fighting against it. On their return, they said Paris, iron bridges, locomotives, everything was “very big.” They’d learned that Frenchmen seemed to be satisfied by the phrase and used it to buy some peace. In fact they did not comprehend what their guides had tried to show them.

I find that, in explaining astronomy to the public (including students in introductory classes) there is a temptation to play to the “ooh and ahh factor,” to try to impress one’s audience with big numbers to show how different it is from normal experience. (Sometimes there is the unspoken subtext: “Look at me, how good I am to be able to work with huge numbers!”) But if we are not very careful we may, in the end, only leave the vague impression that astronomy is “very big.”

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