Ways to comprehend how much a million is

[David1961]

I struggle with this. I'm used to using numbers less than 1000. How does one visualize just how much a million is? One way I do is to say if I give one dollar away each second 24/7, it would last over 11.5 days. Or a million days ago was 727 BC. That helps, but still when you get into millions and billions, it's hard for me to grasp.

 

[MichaelB]

One way to visualize $1M: if my annual budget is $40k, it would pay my way for 25 years.

 

[teejayevans]

I don't see how any of that helps...try this:
1,000,000/your_yearly_expenses

Still look big?

TJ

 

[marko]

How about 220 pounds in $100 bills.

If my math is correct (it often isn't) that means that a Million Dollars in $10 bills would weigh just over a ton. "A ton of money!"

But a check would be lighter.

 

[KingB]

I read long time ago that you can not count to a million in your lifetime.

 

[ERD50]

One way to visualize $1M: if my annual budget is $40k, it would pay my way for 25 years.

I don't see how any of that helps...try this:
1,000,000/your_yearly_expenses

Still look big?

TJ

Right, the 25 years expenses gives some meaningful perspective. The other things are just other intangibly large numbers, no real help, IMO.

I read long time ago that you can not count to a million in your lifetime.

Because you would lose count and have to start over again? Or get bored and give up?

At one count per second, that is 1 million seconds, or 278 hours, which would be 35 days at 8 hours a day. It might slow down with the larger numbers, but a lifetime?

1,000,000 sec
16,667 min
278 hours
35 Days, 8 hours/day


-ERD50

 

[RunningBum]

I can't remember the name of the book and can't find it, but I do recall reading some book about a million dollars to my kid many years ago. It talked about what a million dollars is in various terms, and then covered other topics like interest.

Anyway, are you talking about $1M, or a million of something else? If its $, the above answers basing it on your annual budget or income should be all you need. If it helps, drop the last 3 digits and think of it as 1000 K, where you spend 40K or 50K or whatever per year.

If it's a million of something else, I can't help without knowing what it is. If it's just a general thing, maybe you need to find something else to occupy your mind!

 

[photoguy]

xkcd: Money

 

[Danmar]

I don't understand why you have to visualize it in a physical way? Just think of it as a means to buy something(an expensive house) or generate income of say $30,000/year. Money isn't really physical at all even though the currency is.

 

[audreyh1]

I don't see how any of that helps...try this:
1,000,000/your_yearly_expenses

Still look big?

TJ

Exactly!

 

[Independent]

One way to visualize $1M: if my annual budget is $40k, it would pay my way for 25 years.

+1

 

[MasterBlaster]

Here your are... A million dollars

 

[GrayHare]

Here's a million pennies (and a billion, and more) illustrated: http://www.kokogiak.com/megapenny/

 

[W2R]

The jpeg below is 5000 dots. Print out 200 copies of it and put them up on the walls of your room (like teachers commonly do in a classroom to teach students how large a million is). Voila! Now you will have a better grasp on how big 1,000,000 is.

 

[Dawg52]

Here's another way to look at a million. Enough to buy you a nice view in high priced Malibu, CA.

Million-dollar mobile homes - MSN Real Estate

 

[BigNick]

I read long time ago that you can not count to a million in your lifetime.

Not true. If you smoke 20 cigarettes a day for 50 years, that's 365,000 cigarettes. So you only have to count 3 numbers in the time it takes to smoke a cigarette.

The VAX/VMS computer operating system claimed to measure one of its system parameters in "micro-fortnights". That was the engineers' little joke; there are about a million seconds in two weeks. (I gather that a lot of Americans are not familiar with the word "fortnight", which is interesting because AFAIK it's a very old English word, not something coined in the UK since 1776.)

 

[NW-Bound]

The official Australian pension Web site shows benefit calculations in dollars per fortnight.

In the US, I have seen speeds measured in "fathom/fortnight".

Long live "fortnight".

 

[Nords]

I can't remember the name of the book and can't find it, but I do recall reading some book about a million dollars to my kid many years ago. It talked about what a million dollars is in various terms, and then covered other topics like interest.

"If You Made A Million", a huge hit in our house.

Amazon.com: If You Made a Million (9780688136345): David M. Schwartz, Steven Kellogg: Books

xkcd: Money

The adult version of the "If You Made A Million" book...

 

[Free To Canoe]

How about 220 pounds in $100 bills.

If my math is correct (it often isn't) that means that a Million Dollars in $10 bills would weigh just over a ton. "A ton of money!"

But a check would be lighter.

Sorry Marko, 22 lbs.

 

[Nemo2]

Now, if I had a million dollars:
[youtube]LHacDYj8KZM[/youtube]

 

[ERD50]

The jpeg below is 5000 dots. Print out 200 copies of it and put them up on the walls of your room (like teachers commonly do in a classroom to teach students how large a million is). Voila! Now you will have a better grasp on how big 1,000,000 is.

Funny thing is, I've literally been staring at an example as I read this thread. But also looking right past it:

My monitor is 1366⋅768 pixels

1366 ⋅ 768 = 1,049,088

pretty darn close, though I didn't count them, I'll take their word for it.

-ERD50

 

[W2R]

Funny thing is, I've literally been staring at an example as I read this thread. But also looking right past it:

My monitor is 1366⋅768 pixels

1366 ⋅ 768 = 1,049,088

pretty darn close, though I didn't count them, I'll take their word for it.

-ERD50

Oh, I think you should count them, and make sure...

 

[ERD50]

Oh, I think you should count them, and make sure...

Actually, I probably have, indirectly. I seem to recall doing some stuff in a drawing program and making the lines exactly those lengths in pixels.

I'll leave it at that though - I don't have the eyesight (or patience, or motivation) for 1 pixel, 2 pixels, 3 pixels....

-ERD50

 

[NW-Bound]

I remember that as a kid, I thought I would be rich if I had $100 in my pocket. Then, that "rich" threshold kept rising up and up as I got older and made more money. That's not good. I need to reverse that tendency, and make myself feel like a kid again.

I just looked at my Quicken screen. It shows stock prices, account subtotals, and the grand total down to the penny. That's great. Two more digits to my net worth. I love it.

 

[RunningBum]

"If You Made A Million", a huge hit in our house.

Amazon.com: If You Made a Million (9780688136345): David M. Schwartz, Steven Kellogg: Books

That was it! thanks