Really Big Numbers

Winner of the 2015 MSRI Mathical Books for Kids from Tots to Teens Award! In the American Mathematical Society's first-ever book for kids (and kids at heart), mathematician and author Richard Evan Schwartz leads math lovers of all ages on an innovative and strikingly illustrated journey through the infinite number system. By means of engaging, imaginative visuals and endearing narration, Schwartz manages the monumental task of presenting the complex concept of Big Numbers in fresh and relatable ways. The book begins with small, easily observable numbers before building up to truly gigantic ones, like a nonillion, a tredecillion, a googol, and even ones too huge for names! Any person, regardless of age, can benefit from reading this book. Readers will find themselves returning to its pages for a very long time, perpetually learning from and growing with the narrative as their knowledge deepens. Really Big Numbers is a wonderful enrichment for any math education program and is enthusiastically recommended to every teacher, parent and grandparent, student, child, or other individual interested in exploring the vast universe of numbers. A superb, beautifully illustrated book for kids — and those of us still children at heart — that takes you up (and up, and up, and up, and up, and...) through the counting numbers, illustrating the power of the different notations mathematicians have invented to talk about VERY BIG NUMBERS. Many of us use words to try to describe the beauty and the power of mathematics. Schwartz does it with captivating, full-color drawings. —Keith Devlin, NPR Math Guy and author of The Math Instinct and The Math Gene This book talks about really big numbers in terms of everyday things, such as the number of basketballs needed to cover New York City. Read this book and satisfy your thirst for truly huge numbers. Travel part of the way to infinity!