A Billion Here, A Billion There

In August Apple (AAPL) became the first US stock to achieve a market capitalization of $1 trillion. This month Amazon (AMZN) also reached that lofty level. But how big is a trillion? Well, it’s 1000 times 1 billion. Does that help? No?

Well, since a billion equals 1000 times 1 million, another way to think of a trillion is 1000 times 1000 times 1 million. And since we know that 1000 times 1000 is 1 million, we can also just say that 1 trillion is 1 million times 1 million. That number is still hard to grasp isn’t it?

Consider this, if you started counting to 1 trillion one second at a time, it would take you and your descendants 31,688 years, 32 days, 1 hour, 12 minutes, and 56 seconds to finish. In short, 1 trillion is a very, very large number!

A Billion Here, A Billion There

In August Apple (AAPL) became the first US stock to achieve a market capitalization of $1 trillion. This month Amazon (AMZN) also reached that lofty level. But how big is a trillion? Well, it’s 1000 times 1 billion. Does that help? No?

Well, since a billion equals 1000 times 1 million, another way to think of a trillion is 1000 times 1000 times 1 million. And since we know that 1000 times 1000 is 1 million, we can also just say that 1 trillion is 1 million times 1 million. That number is still hard to grasp isn’t it?

Consider this, if you started counting to 1 trillion one second at a time, it would take you and your descendants 31,688 years, 32 days, 1 hour, 12 minutes, and 56 seconds to finish. In short, 1 trillion is a very, very large number!