It's Only Money

As politicians and economists toss about their stimulus package theories, they tend to blend millions and billions of dollars in the same sentences as if those "...ions" were first cousins. Not so.

Mathematician John Allen Paulos, in his book "Innumeracy," suggests this brain teaser as a way to differentiate a million from a billion. Here goes.

Guess how long a million seconds is? Now, a billion seconds? Times up. Got it?

A million seconds is less than twelve days; a billion seconds is almost thirty-two years!

Of course, it's only money...sadly enough though, it's your money.