Numbers
The popular tech comic site xkcd has created an amazing huge poster to help explain terms like million, billion, and trillion… While the poster is way bigger than your screen can handle, you should see navigation aids to help you move around. … Read more 
Numbers
Math students through the ages pound their heads on their desks, asking the same question: Why do the numbers 12, 60, and 360 show up so often? Specifically: 12 inches in a foot; 360 inches in 30 feet 12 is … Read more
Numbers
Placing “nano” before a measurement indicates “billionths” — that is there are billion per unit. For example, a nanometer is a billionth of a meter. A nanosecond is a billionth of a second. The prefix “nano” comes from the Latin nanus (“dwarf”). … Read more
Numbers
The minimum safe depth for paddle steamers on the Mississippi River in the nineteenth century was 2 fathoms, or 12 feet, which was called out as “mark twain”—which Samuel Clemens took as his pen name!
