Number Games

Growing up I always like messing around with numbers. I was the first in my class to learn the multiplication tables up to the 10s. It was a shock when some girl got the 15s way before I did. She must have been on the leading age of the women’s movement.

Baseball cards were a real treat, all sorts of numbers to remember, compare, and argue about with neighborhood kids. I always did the math to make sure the averages were right. The one time I found a mistake my mom helped me write a letter to the bubblegum company but I never heard back. I don’t think she actually mailed it.

About the 7th grade, I got my first paper route and thought keeping track of money, making change and saving a few dollars every week was really fun. Handling money was just working with numbers and I never understood why people couldn’t balance a checkbook.

My numbers were fun, understandable and actually useful. Now, I have no idea where they come from, what they mean or what I’m supposed to do with them. The national debt is a good example – its something like $14.7 trillion. How do they know? How many zeros is that? Will it help if I don’t charge anything this week? What happened to the $37,019,344,718 that got rounded off – can we have that back? What comes after a trillion anyway? I don’t know for sure but I think it goes zillions, bazillions and then gazillions.

People tell me I need to learn the language used with those big numbers and eventually they won’t be so intimidating. That sounds like a good suggestion and I’m willing to give it a try. How’s this, last month my social security check was .000000000212 trillion dollars. Wow, that does feel good. Coffee on me this week!

A. Reader