{"id":456,"date":"2015-04-23T09:30:31","date_gmt":"2015-04-23T09:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=456"},"modified":"2018-08-11T09:33:47","modified_gmt":"2018-08-11T08:33:47","slug":"visualising-huge-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visualagency.com\/?p=456","title":{"rendered":"Visualising Huge Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being so abstract, numbers can quickly vary from being very incomprehensibly large, to minuscule and often it can be difficult to visualise them or to conceptualise what they mean.<\/p>\n

With small amounts, for example five apples, we can visualise in our mind\u2019s eye what that will look like from our experience of apples. But try to imagine one BILLION apples and our mind loses track. The problem is the human mind is only quick at counting in small numbers and we need a point of reference from memory to conceptualise how big larger numbers are. So for example, if you know that a standard crate of apples contains 30 apples, then you visualise that 90 apples is 3 apple crates.<\/p>\n

\"visualising
Source: Joules of the Universe- Absolute Motion Institute<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Using your imagination for visualising huge numbers is great, but you still have to communicate your concepts of scale verbally. You\u2019re converting from the images in your mind into sound, which is then converted back again into \u00a0images in the mind of another person. Why not communicate straight into\u00a0visuals from the start?<\/p>\n

Below are examples of effective ways designers and film makers that have used visual communication to explain huge numbers. We\u2019ll also look through types of data visualisations that have been used to successfully explain huge numbers or have just used huge numbers to create magnificent pieces of art.<\/p>\n

Powers of Ten Film (1977)<\/h2>\n

Produced by Charles & Ray Eames, this documentary film depicts the relative scale of the Universe according to each order of magnitude. The film starts off in a picnic scene before zooming out off into deep space and then back again, zooming into the subatomic world. By sequentially giving context to the scale of things at each size allowed viewers to relate how big (or small) an object was by comparing it visually to the objects that came before it – giving the viewers some perspective. The Powers of Ten film also illustrates how minuscule we are on the cosmic scale.<\/p>\n

[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0?rel=0]<\/p>\n

The Scale of the Universe 2<\/h2>\n

Taking inspiration from the Eames brothers\u2019 film, Cary & Michael Huang created their version of the Powers of Ten film in the form of an interactive piece: The Scale of the Universe. Using a slider you can control your journey through each magnitude of scale.<\/p>\n

\"visualising<\/p>\n

The MegaPenny Project<\/h2>\n

A website that uses a US penny as a point of reference to visualise huge numbers.\u00a0 The website starts off at a single penny and finishes off displaying the size visually of one quintillion pennies.\u00a0 Each significant increase in the amount of pennies is broken up into stages, along with other visual references to help provide perspective to the user how big these quantities are.\u00a0 Along with showing the amount of space these quantities of coins take up, The MegaPenny Project also helps visualise large amounts of money.<\/p>\n

\"visualisingThe Art of Pi (\u03c0), Phi (\u03d5) and e<\/h2>\n

This series of beautiful data art was created by two Canadian scientists\u00a0Christian Ilies Vasile and\u00a0Martin Kryzwinski<\/a>. \u00a0By utilising the software\u00a0Circos<\/a>, they managed to create colourful visual representations of the mathematical constants of\u00a0\u03c0 (pi), \u03c6 (phi) and e.<\/em>\u00a0 All done through\u00a0using\u00a0transition probabilities and colour-coded digits on\u00a0Archimedean spirals.<\/p>\n

\"visualising<\/a>
Progression of the first 10,000 digits of Pi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"visualising<\/a>
Progression and transition for the first 1,000 digits of Phi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"visualising<\/a>
Progression and transition for the first 2,000 digits of Pi, Phi and e<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Information is Beautiful: Big Numbers<\/h2>\n

David McCandless’ website has its own section on visualising huge numbers. \u00a0Most of the charts on display are treemaps, bubble charts and proportional area charts. \u00a0However, one particular piece that stood out for me, was “Debtris” an animated version of a treemap, presented like the Tetris video game. This animation helped make the stats engaging by making it entertaining. It’s also a clever, alternative way of presenting a treemap.<\/p>\n

[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qqOJTwI3oVQ?rel=0&w=640&h=360]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Being so abstract, numbers can quickly vary from being very incomprehensibly large, to minuscule and often it can be difficult to visualise them or to conceptualise what they mean. With small amounts, for example five apples, we can visualise in our mind\u2019s eye what that will look like from our experience of apples. But try … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4163,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[8,10,42],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVisualising Huge Numbers - VISU.AL AGENCY<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Exploring the many ways visualising huge numbers has been done by people and how to effectively explain or express big numbers to an audience.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/visualagency.com\/?p=456\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Visualising Huge Numbers - 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