It Isn't Eight Billion...

The purpose of this blog is to have a full cup at the Shabbat table... Please share...

sss

It Isn't Eight Billion.... it's really only eight thousand millions!

When you put it that way, it doesn't sound like so much, right?

Or does eight thousand millions sound like a larger number to you?

Question for your table: Are there other things that sound totally different when you express them with different (but equally true) words?

Try this one: what would you rather hear from a doctor: "It's going to take 45 days to heal" or "It's going to take 6 weeks to heal" ...?

Or: "You scored 88 percent!" versus "You got 7 out of 8 correct!" versus "You only missed one out of eight!" — which sounds best?

When Steve Jobs introduced the first iPod, he didn’t say: “This device has a storage capacity of 5 gigabytes;" rather: “You can fit 1,000 songs in here!”

Evidently, even the size of the font can change the way we perceive numbers:

Compare: 7 billion v. 8 billion.

What do you think?

Question 2 for your table: Is this entire discussion just an elaboration of the adage, "Is your glass half full or half empty?" 

But if you think of it, that old saw doesn't need to be binary; there's arguably a third option - can you think of what it is?

Final question for your table - if you purposely express something in a way that makes it see bigger / smaller / cheaper etc., is that a form of deception?

Shabbat Shalom

PS - You do know how many days til Channukah, right?

Enjoyed this Table Talk? Vote with your fingers!  Like it, tweet it, forward it....{VR_SOCIAL_SHARING}