Millions, Billions, Zillions: Defending Yourself in a World of Too Many Numbers
An essential guide to recognizing bogus numbers and misleading data

Numbers are often intimidating, confusing, and even deliberately deceptive—especially when they are really big. The media loves to report on millions, billions, and trillions, but frequently makes basic mistakes or presents such numbers in misleading ways. And misunderstanding numbers can have serious consequences, since they can deceive us in many of our most important decisions, including how to vote, what to buy, and whether to make a financial investment. In this short, accessible, enlightening, and entertaining book, Brian Kernighan teaches anyone—even diehard math-phobes—how to demystify the numbers that assault us every day. Giving you the simple tools you need to avoid being fooled by dubious numbers, Millions, Billions, Zillions is an essential survival guide for a world drowning in big—and often bad—data.

1128554051
Millions, Billions, Zillions: Defending Yourself in a World of Too Many Numbers
An essential guide to recognizing bogus numbers and misleading data

Numbers are often intimidating, confusing, and even deliberately deceptive—especially when they are really big. The media loves to report on millions, billions, and trillions, but frequently makes basic mistakes or presents such numbers in misleading ways. And misunderstanding numbers can have serious consequences, since they can deceive us in many of our most important decisions, including how to vote, what to buy, and whether to make a financial investment. In this short, accessible, enlightening, and entertaining book, Brian Kernighan teaches anyone—even diehard math-phobes—how to demystify the numbers that assault us every day. Giving you the simple tools you need to avoid being fooled by dubious numbers, Millions, Billions, Zillions is an essential survival guide for a world drowning in big—and often bad—data.

16.95 In Stock
Millions, Billions, Zillions: Defending Yourself in a World of Too Many Numbers

Millions, Billions, Zillions: Defending Yourself in a World of Too Many Numbers

by Brian W. Kernighan
Millions, Billions, Zillions: Defending Yourself in a World of Too Many Numbers

Millions, Billions, Zillions: Defending Yourself in a World of Too Many Numbers

by Brian W. Kernighan

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Overview

An essential guide to recognizing bogus numbers and misleading data

Numbers are often intimidating, confusing, and even deliberately deceptive—especially when they are really big. The media loves to report on millions, billions, and trillions, but frequently makes basic mistakes or presents such numbers in misleading ways. And misunderstanding numbers can have serious consequences, since they can deceive us in many of our most important decisions, including how to vote, what to buy, and whether to make a financial investment. In this short, accessible, enlightening, and entertaining book, Brian Kernighan teaches anyone—even diehard math-phobes—how to demystify the numbers that assault us every day. Giving you the simple tools you need to avoid being fooled by dubious numbers, Millions, Billions, Zillions is an essential survival guide for a world drowning in big—and often bad—data.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780691209098
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: 11/10/2020
Pages: 176
Product dimensions: 4.50(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Brian W. Kernighan is professor of computer science at Princeton University. His many books include Understanding the Digital World: What You Need to Know about Computers, the Internet, Privacy, and Security (Princeton).

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Chapter 1 Getting Started 1

Chapter 2 Millions, Billions, Zillions 9

2.1 How long will it last? 10

2.2 How can this be? 11

2.3 Check the units 14

2.4 Summary 17

Chapter 3 Big Numbers 19

3.1 Number numb 20

3.2 What's my share? 22

3.3 High finance 25

3.4 Other big numbers 27

3.5 Visualizations and graphical explanations 28

3.6 Summary 30

Chapter 4 Mega, Giga, Tera, and Beyond 31

4.1 How big is an e-book? 32

4.2 Scientific notation 36

4.3 Mangled units 38

4.4 Summary 39

Chapter 5 Units 41

5.1 Get the units right 41

5.2 Reasoning backwards 43

5.3 Summary 46

Chapter 6 Dimensionality 49

6.1 Square feet and feet square 50

6.2 Area 51

6.3 Volume 54

6.4 Summary 57

Chapter 7 Milestones 59

7.1 Little's Law 59

7.2 Consistency 62

7.3 Another example 65

7.4 Summary 65

Chapter 8 Specious Precision 69

8.1 Watch out for calculators 70

8.2 Units conversions 71

8.3 Temperature conversions 77

8.4 Ranking schemes 79

8.5 Summary 81

Chapter 9 Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics 85

9.1 Average versus median 86

9.2 Sample bias 88

9.3 Survivor bias 90

9.4 Correlation and causation 91

9.5 Summary 92

Chapter 10 Graphical Trickery 95

10.1 Gee-whiz graphs 96

10.2 Broken axes 99

10.3 Pie charts 100

10.4 One-dimensional pictures 102

10.5 Summary 104

Chapter 11 Bias 109

11.1 Who says so? 110

11.2 Why do they care? 112

11.3 What do they want you to believe? 113

11.4 Summary 116

Chapter 12 Arithmetic 119

12.1 Do the math! 120

12.2 Approximate arithmetic, round numbers 121

12.3 Annual and lifetime rates 122

12.4 Powers of 2 and powers of 10 124

12.5 Compounding and the Rule of 72 126

12.6 It's growing exponentially! 129

12.7 Percentages and percentage points 131

12.8 What goes up comes down, but differently 132

12.9 Summary 135

Chapter 13 Estimation 137

13.1 Make your own estimate first 138

13.2 Practice, practice, practice 140

13.3 Fermi problems 142

13.4 My estimates 145

13.5 Know some facts 148

13.6 Summary 149

Chapter 14 Self Defense 151

14.1 Recognize the enemy 151

14.2 Beware of the source 153

14.3 Learn some numbers, facts, and shortcuts 154

14.4 Use your common sense and experience 155

Further Reading 157

Figure Credits 159

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This sophisticated, rich, and accessible book walks us through something we all need but are almost never taught: number sense. The reader is left with real skills and confidence about understanding and interpreting numbers, probabilities, graphics, and much more. Brian Kernighan has done a great service by offering tools that will help all of us become more informed citizens, patients, parents, and news consumers—and better bullshit detectors."—Zeynep Tufekci, contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and author of Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest

“The indispensable guide to numerical trickery, deception, and flimflam!”—Harry Lewis, coauthor of Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness after the Digital Explosion

“A delightful introduction to an important topic, this book will appeal to far more than technical readers and could become a classic.”—Jon Bentley, retired Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Bell Labs Research

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