How Much is a Billion?
We all know how to count to 100. We count by 10's, 5's and 2's but when the numbers get higher it becomes more and more difficult to comprehend just how much that number means.
Here you will find books, games, activities and ideas for exploring large numbers. Hundreds, thousands, millions and even a billion. The numbers keep adding up. How much is a billion?
A Billion Table of Contents
- One Grain Of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale
- How do you count to a Billion?
- Measuring a Billion Grains of Rice
- A Billion Questions
- Millions and Billions: Large Number Lessons
- I'm Changing My Name To Fannie Mae
- Concerns about a Billion Dollars
- The MegaPenny Project
- How Much Is a Million?
- Photo of the The Million Man March
- The Million Man March
- Millions of Cats
- Host a Cat Drawing Contest
- Look Who's Twittering about a Billion
- Resources for Millions, Billions and Beyond
- More Math Lenses
- Let's Chat about a Billion...
- FreeRice
- About the Author of this Billion Lens
One Grain Of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale
Mixed Rice Falling from a Spoon
Photographic Print
Winkelmann,...
Buy at AllPosters.com
After reading the story, One Grain of Rice, take out a large page from a calendar. Tell the children that together you are going to glue grains of rice onto the days of the calendar to represent the rice that Rami received from the Raja.
At first it seems like an easy job but soon the numbers get just too high to count. This is a project that will never be completed but this realization is what it is all about.
One Grain Of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale
It's the story of Rani, a clever girl who outsmarts a very selfish raja and saves her village. When offered a reward for a good deed, she asks only for one grain of rice, doubled each day for 30 days. Remember your math? That's lots of rice: enough to feed a village for a good long time--and to teach a greedy raja a lesson.
Amazon Price: $14.95 (as of 12/08/2009) 
How do you count to a Billion?
One Billion starts in the 10th Place
Buy at AllPosters.com
One billion is a very high number. Keeping track of all the grains of rice that you have counted can be difficult. Pumpkins and Place Value has dozens of ideas for helping children keep track of numbers as they get higher and higher.
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Pumpkins and Place Value
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Pick the biggest pumpkin you can find. Cut off the top and smell the fresh pumpkin smell. Carving a Jack O'Lantern leads into a mathematical unit study of place value that incorporates all five senses. Counting pumpkin seeds into groups of 10...
Measuring a Billion Grains of Rice
Measuring a Billion Grains of Rice with Cups and Spoons
Now it's time to start talking about estimating. Somewhere between the 7th and the 10th days it will become too tedious to count individual grains. This is why people estimate or use measuring devices to determine amounts.
Count how many grains of rice fit in a teaspoon. How many teaspoons fit in a tablespoon? How many in a cup?
Going through the exercise of actually counting the rice to discover that you can measure the number of rice fairly accurately by spoonful or cupful is an important life skill and one that won't be forgotten when children are given the time to do the actual counting and measuring.
Jonti-Craft 0886JC Toddler 3 Tub Sensory Table, Birch & Maple
As the number of grains of rice gets higher a sensory or rice table works well to help contain spills as you measure the rice with spoons and cups.
Amazon Price: $315.86 (as of 12/08/2009)
MIU 4-Piece Polished Stainless-Steel Measuring Spoon Set
How many grains of rice are in a teaspoon? How many teaspoons in a tablespoon?
If you multiply the number of grains of rice in a teaspoon by the number of teaspoons in a tablespoon is it the same as accurate as counting each grain individually?
How could you find the answer?
Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 12/08/2009)
Amco 4-Piece Stainless Steel Measuring Cup Set
Soon you will need to be measuring your rice by the cupful. How many cups of rice are their in a billion grains of rice?
Amazon Price: $13.50 (as of 12/08/2009)
Me and the Measure of Things
Time for a story about measuring. Learn what things are measured in teaspoons , gallons and bushels. What will we need to measure a billion grains of rice?
Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/08/2009)
Clear Measuring Cup, 4 Quart (400MCCW) Category: Measuring Cups
How many grains of rice are in a 4 quart measure? Are we up to a billion yet?
Can we still glue the rice onto the calendar?
How much does a gallon of dry rice cost?
Amazon Price: $24.29 (as of 12/08/2009)
A Billion Questions
Contemplating a Billion
Buy at AllPosters.com
This is a close-Up of a dusty and bright galaxy located billions of light-years away in infrared light. What is a light-year and how can we understand the distances involved in billions of light-years?
When you talk about light taking billions of light-years to reach us can you see why scientists say that we are looking at the past when we look at stars? The light that reaches us today left that star billions of light-years ago.
- Math Forum - Ask Dr. Math
- How long does it take to count to one billion counting one number per
second? - Counting to A Billion...
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Trivia: Most mammals live for about a billion heartbeats. At that rate, I'd just be reaching my warranty now but domesticated humans now live for more than two billion heartbeats.
But I can count to sixty in under a minute...or would it just take longer to say all the syllables in all the numbers you have to say out loud?
Say out loud, "four hundred sixty-four million, three hundred forty-seven thousand, one hundred twenty-one," and time yourself. - Counting by powers of ten
- One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million, ten million, hundred million, billion, ...
How many zeros are there in each of these numbers?
One billion is 10 to the 14th power!
Millions and Billions: Large Number Lessons
Lessons in Learning Large Numbers
- UNDERSTANDING BIG NUMBERS Suggested grade levels: 9 and up.
- In today's world, large numbers are common. This module is designed to help put them
in some perspective by estimation and understanding relative sizes. It also includes some fun questions about how big a billion dollars is.
A TV program reported that a billion dollars in waste was discovered in government spending.
a. What percent of the national budget is a billion dollars?
b. If you had $100 and lost 0.05% (or 5/100 of 1%) of it, how much money did you lose?
I'm Changing My Name To Fannie Mae
When they hand seven hundred million grand out....
Concerns about a Billion Dollars
How concerned are you about the Billions of Dollars in Bail Out Money?
Are you worried about the billions of dollars in bail out money?
I say...
What others are saying...
The MegaPenny Project
Using Pennies to Understand Large Numbers
Pile up as many pennies as you can. Ask to visit a vault at a bank to see more pennies and see if it is still possible to pick up a bag of pennies. Ask how much it weighs and how many pennies are in the bag.
- The MegaPenny Project
The MegaPenny Project by kokogiak media
Visualizing huge numbers can be very difficult. People regularly talk about millions of miles, billions of bytes, or trillions of dollars, yet it's still hard to grasp just how much a "billion" really is. The MegaPenny Project aims to ...
How Much Is a Million?
Maybe it's easier to understand a million.
How Much Is a Million? 20th Anniversary Edition (Reading Rainbow Book)
Children are often intrigued by or confused about (sometimes both) very large numbers. Here Schwartz uses concepts that are simple to help readers conceptualize astronomical numbers like a million, billion, and trillion.
Examples: If a million children climbed on each other's shoulders, they would reach higher into the sky than airplanes can fly; if a billion of them made a human tower, it would reach past the moon.
Some of the concepts can best be understood if there is previous knowledge (like the distance to the moon) but this is on the whole a successful effort. Extensive notes in small print seem addressed to adults.
Kellogg's bouncy, vibrant pictures, however, are colorful and funny and indubitably addressed to children.
Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/08/2009)
Photo of the The Million Man March
Were there really a million men at the Million Man March?
Take a look at the photo of the Million Man March. Blow it up and make a copy of it. Now use the skills you learned in Pumpkins and Place Value and see if you can estimate the number of people who attended the Million Man March.
Washington DC, USA 1...
The Million Man March
The number of people assembled on the wall for The Million Man March was especially important because of the name of this protest. African American leaders were proud of the number of people they were able to bring together in support of their cause and where upset when estimates stated that as few as 400,000 were actually in the crowd.
Read the article to see how many people were estimated by different agencies to have participated in the Million Man March and take special note of how they went about estimating the size of the assemblage.
If it is this difficult to count several hundred thousand, how is it possible to comprehend one billion?
The Million Man March was a mass gathering held in the United States, in Washington, D.C., on October 16, 1995. Under the leadership of Nation of Isl...
Millions of Cats
100 Cats and a Mouse
Art Print
Fiorucci,...
Buy at AllPosters.com
Children can relate easily to this story. From all the kittens available it's so hard to choose.
Start a bulletin board of cats. Children can draw them, cut them out, use stamps and stamp pads. Ask them to post the most beautiful cat. Each cat will be more beautiful than the last.
How many cats do you have? Hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats.
Millions of Cats (Paperstar)
An old man and his wife decide to get a cat, so the old man goes out in search of the prettiest cat of all.
When he is forced to choose from "hundreds, thousands, millions and billions and trillions" of cats...
Amazon Price: (as of 12/08/2009)
Host a Cat Drawing Contest
Can you draw a billion cats?
A Cat, 1893
Giclee Print
Ronner-Knip,...
Buy at AllPosters.com
Share with each other how each of you draws cats. Cut out your cats and start putting them up on the bulletin board. Look at pictures of cats in books, online and in art museums. Which one is the most beautiful?
Look for different artistic techniques and styles in the way that cats are drawn. Experiment with various styles and continue to cut out your cats and put them up on the bulletin board.
Now start counting the number of cats that you have drawn. Have you drawn ...hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats...? as mentioned in the story by Wanda Gag?
Maybe you need some help? Now ask the other classes in your school to join you. Ask your parents and the parents of the other children in the school. Would it be possible to draw a million cats? How many cats would each person in your school have to draw to make one million cats? How about a billion cats?
How long does it take you to draw a cat? Take out a stop-watch and find out the fastest or the average time it takes the children in your class to draw cats. How long would it take to draw one million or one billion cats at your average speed?
Look Who's Twittering about a Billion
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- wccnnews
- He made $1-billion last year, but I wouldn't trade places with him. It's gone bad quickly for Tiger: http://bit.ly/7G1ExS
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- echange1
- Japan unveils new $81 billion stimulus package : Japan's government on Tuesday unveiled $8.. http://bit.ly/7nB9mU http://bit.ly/6h5Sxs
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- Chrisu3
- RT @FreeAdsSecret Just released...1 Billion FREE Ads promoting your product or service w/My SUPER Free Ads Secret http://eCa.sh/eA3v
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- southsideadguy
- Very smart! Help retire $500 billion in outstanding college loan debt. http://bit.ly/62JYsV Puts $ in right hands. (via @carol_phillips)
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- darknbelle
- RT @ihategame #omgfacts .... "SUPAHEAD" has had more beef in her mouth than McDonald's customers & they got over a BILLION SERVED !!! --lmao
Resources for Millions, Billions and Beyond
Linking to Large Numbers
If you have a wonderful resource for helping teach a true understanding of large numbers please add it and leave a comment in the below.
How Big Is A Million? (with poster)
A million is a very big number. But exactly how bi more...1 point
More Math Lenses
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Pumpkins and Place Value
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Pick the biggest pumpkin you can find. Cut off the top and smell the fresh pumpkin smell. Carving a Jack O'Lantern leads into a mathematical unit study of place value that incorporates all five senses. Counting pumpkin seeds into groups of 10...
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The Mouse Ran Up The Clock
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It's time to learn how to tell time. Here is a unit study that teaches children to tell time, understand lapse in time and the evolution of the understanding of time through history. Learn about devices for measuring time, clocks, egg timers and...
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Hands-on Math Activities
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Children learn and truly understand mathematical concepts best when engaged in hands-on activities and games. By manipulating everyday objects, playing games and finding out ways of solving everyday problems children gain a true understanding of the...
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Roman Numerals, I to MM
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Roman Numerals may be found where you least expect them. Look up at the clocks on public buildings and down on the cornerstones. Check out the copyright date of your favorite movie or book. You might even find roman numerals on your watch. Learning...
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Natural Math Manipulatives
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A hands-on approach to learning new concepts involving all 5 senses makes understanding easier and quicker for learners of all styles. Here you will find manipulatives that intrigue, excite and encourage exploration. From wooden blocks to needle fel...
Let's Chat about a Billion...
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Reply
- ChapelHillFiddler ChapelHillFiddler Nov 27, 2009 @ 7:59 am
- I think we are not wired to understand numbers so big. Great try and getting it into our brains. I'm featuring this in my fan-club thank-you lens, so - thanks!
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Reply
- Evelyn_Saenz Evelyn_Saenz Nov 27, 2009 @ 8:17 am
- A billion thanks. Could you please leave the link to your Fan Club?
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Reply
- Evelyn_Saenz Evelyn_Saenz Aug 7, 2009 @ 5:33 am | in reply to AndyPo
- Who would have guessed that a billion could have different meanings in different countries. Thank you, AndyPo for this intriguing tidbit. I can hardly wait to research this new aspect of a billion.
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Reply
- AndyPo AndyPo Jul 29, 2009 @ 7:01 am
- Excellent explanation. I have no problem handling large numbers (as a physicist) but the word "billion" is a problem: a British "Billion" was 1000,000,000,000 (a million million) when I was a child, then the (probably more sensible) American version replaced it as the official meaning of the word.
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Reply
- JaguarJulie JaguarJulie Apr 27, 2009 @ 7:10 am
- Excellent lens Evelyn -- now I can well see a series in the development -- understanding a trillion, etc.! Isn't it something that once upon a time, a million meant a really lot to us, then a billion, now a trillion and onwards and upwards???
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FreeRice
Donate rice to the United Nations World Food Program.
"What if just knowing what a word meant could help feed hungry people around the world? Well, at FreeRice it does . . . the totals have grown exponentially."
- Washington Post
- FreeRice
- Give free rice to hungry people by playing a simple game that increases your knowledge.
About the Author of this Billion Lens
Evelyn's Hands-On Learning Blog.Find out what I'm doing when I'm not counting to a billion:
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Evelyn Saenz: Lensography of a Teacher
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My passion is teaching and finding ways to teach children in fun, hands-on, creative ways. The unit studies I make on Squidoo reflect my view that learning should be integrated and no skills should be taught in isolation. I believe that each topic s...
by Evelyn_Saenz
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