From one to a billion: 10 awesome but totally random facts about numbers

1. Slide presented by :
Pawan Mishra

2. 10 awesome but totally
random facts about numbers

3. • Do you know how many babiesare born every
second, the number of teaspoons ofbotulinumyou
would need to killevery personon the planet or how
many TVs MichelLotito atein his lifetime? Adam
Frost, data nerd and the author ofThe Awesome
Book on Awesomeness, revealsawesome number
facts to wow your friends with

5. 1. One

6. • Itdoesn’tget betterthanNumberOne. It’sthe average
number ofpoos asloth hasin a week. It’sthe numberof
websites there were in 1991(todaythere areabout850
million). It’s thenumber ofpeoplewholive in the townof
Monowi,Nebraska.It’sthenumber of secondsit takes
theMIT MediaLabcameratotake1 trillionpictures(it can
photographthespeed of light).

7. 2. Zero

8. Apparentlythe Greeks and theRomansnever usedzero. Howisthis
possible?Inventedby theancientBabylonians, itis withoutquestion
thegreatestnumberin theworld.It’sthe number ofspecies of bats
whoare actuallyblind(out of1200 species).Itwas Henry VI’sage
when hebecameKingofEngland(he was nine monthsold).Also
when hebecameKingofFrance (he waselevenmonthsold).It’s the
totalnumber of snakesin Ireland (exceptpets).It’sthe average
numberoftimespersecond thatan albatrossflapsits wings(itcan
spendup tosix days just glidingon aircurrents).

9. 3. Three

10. • Three is seen as a creepy numberin some cultures. In Vietnam,
it’s apparently bad luck to have three people in a photo as the
one in themiddle mightdie. Oh well– I like it. It’s thenumber
of people who have been to the very bottom of theocean (the
Mariana Trench). Compare thatto the 534 people who have
been in space. It’s (on average) the number of days you can
survive without water, thenumber of weeks you can survive
withouteating and the numberof minutesyou can survive
withouttaking a breath.

11. 4. Four

12. • Four percentofpeoplein theworld have“outtie”belly buttons.And
doyou know how oldDorothy Straightwas whenshe published her
firstbook(How theWorldBegan)? That’sright, four.It’sthenumber
ofpeoplewholive ineach square kilometrein Canada(in the UKit’s
265people,in Hong Kongit’s7,000).It’sthenumberofmilesper
second-PER SECOND! -thatspacejunk goes as itwhizzes around
Earth (that’swhy a tinyspeckofitcandestroya space ship).

13. 5. Five

14. • Fiveis great. It’s the numberof babies born every second. Here
come anotherfive. And another.It’s thelengthinmetres of a
Great WhiteShark. It’s also theaverage number of people who
die from shark attacksevery year (compared to the 100 million
sharks a year killed by humans).It’s thenumber of mass
extinctionsthatthe Earth has experienced (number five killed
off thedinosaurs). The world’s largest hulahoop was five
metres wide (Ashrita Furmanmanagedto spin it 3¾times).

15. 6. Seven

16. • Ah, NumberSeven. It’sseenas lucky or mysticalin somecultures.It
crops up allthetime.Seven days ofthe week.Seven DeadlySins.
Seven Dwarvestoo.It’salso the numberofTVs MichelLotitoatein
thecourse of hislife(plus 18 bicycles, 15shoppingtrolleysand 1
Cessna lightaircraft). It’stheestimatednumber ofNorthernwhite
rhinos there are leftin theworld.It’sthe number ofteaspoonsof
botulinumyou wouldneedtokillevery personon theplanet
(Botulinumis theworld’s deadliestpoison. Some peopleinject a
watered-downversion ofit– botox– intotheir foreheadstokill
their wrinkles.Don’ttry thisat home).

17. 7. 10

18. • Humanchildren need around 10 hours of sleep a night(you’d
need two hours if you were a giraffe and twenty-twohours if
you were a koala). 10 per cent of the world is left-handed.The
world’s largestomelettewas 10 metreswide. 10 per centof
people in theworld live on islands. The fleasthatlived on
dinosaurs were 10 timesbigger thanthefleas you get today
(not you personally- at least I hope not).

19. 8. 1,000,000

20. • These days, whenwehave trillions,quadrillionsand septillions,a
goodold-fashionedmillioncan seema bit puny. Butit’sstilla bigdeal
if you likeweirdfacts.Forexample,a bloodhound’s senseofsmellis
saidtobeonemilliontimesstrongerthan ours (andgiven thatwe can
detectonetrilliondifferentsmells,that’snot tobesniffedat).One
millionyears ago,thefirst human-typecreature (or hominid)arrived
inthe UK– according tothesefootprintsona Norfolkbeach.It’sthe
numberofqueen antsthatwerefound in thelargestever ants’nest
(thesupercolony also had306millionworker ants andwas thesize
of650footballpitches).

21. 9. 1,000,000,000

22. In theUK,a billionusedtobea millionmillion(1,000,000,000,000).
But theUS decideda billionshould bea thousandmillion
(1,000,000,000).And they’re biggerthan us, sothey won.So… a billion.
It’sthenumber of peopletherewere in thewholeworld inthe year
1800 (there areseven billionnow). It’sthe number ofbacteria cells
you’d findin a singleteaspoonofsoil(mostofthemare harmless
though).Andis$1billion alotofmoney?Notifyou’re criminal Pablo
Escobar. Ratsate$1billionofhis moneyevery year andhe didn’teven
notice.

23. 10. 557

24. 557peoplein EnglandandWales speakCornishasa first
language.This is more thanthe 100“competentspeakers”
of Manx (spoken on theIsle of Man)butfewer thanthe
1,700speakers of Jerriais(spoken in Jersey). Duw genes!
(That’s“Bye for now”in Cornish).