Big Numbers and Pictures That Show Just How Big They Are by Edward Packard

Big Numbers and Pictures That Show Just How Big They Are by Edward Packard (28 pages; 1 book) #35

Packard, Edward (2000). Big Numbers and Pictures That Show Just How Big They Are. Brookfield, CT: The Millbrook Press.

Awards: No awards.

Grade Level: 4-6 grades

Author Credibility: I could not find any information on Edward Packard. This book is done in comic book style.

Summary/Response: The book begins discussing what the numbers would look like in terms of green peas. It begins with one pea on a plate and multiplies it by ten with each addition. It gives a visual of numbers and how big they are when multiplied by 10. When he moves up to 1,000, he compares it to age. One thousand days from now you will be three years older. When the number moves to 100,000 then it moves it to different multiplication terms like 100X1,000 or 10X10,000. At one million it begins the discussion of exponents. It explains 10 to the 6th power is the same as one million and one million fleas would stretch a mile. Ten million peas would cover up the table and pile on the floor. Ten million grains of sand will fit in a tea cup. You write ten million quickly by writing 10 to the seventh power. The number seven tells you how many zeros are in the number. A line of one billion mice can reach around the world. Ten million bacteria or ten to the tenth power can fit in a drop of water. A line of ten trillion ladybugs can reach Mars. It mentions that a zillion and a gazillion is not an actual number. The book stops at the number a million, billion, trillion peas and shows the symbol for infinity. At the end, it explains how they figured out many peas can fit in a house.

National Standards: Language: Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
Math: understand the place-value structure of the base-ten number system
Illustrations: Color pictures. I didn’t find any specific information, but it looks like colored pencil.

Access Features: None.

Related Texts: Secrets of Mental Math: The Mathmatician’s Guide to Lightning Calculations and Amazing Math Tricks by Arthur Benjamin and Michael Shermer, The Grapes of Math by Greg Tang and Harry Biggs

Classroom Use: This would be a good book for the math center.