Am trying to grasp the differences in amounts of money in the 'real' world.

You say "a million dollars" fairly quickly, and the actuality of just how much it means is difficult to grasp. It also happens especially when there are a lot of these large amounts being dealt with - houses worth $3.5M, well-paid persons receiving $4M, $7M, etc. - compared to more everyday sums, even ones large by the working stiff's standard, such as a whole year's earnings.

I think in the latest Australian statistics, "average" income counting males & females in full-time work is $45,000. (This is somewhat higher than the amount earnt by the most number of people (around $38k-$40k), because the mean is pulled upwards by the small number of extremely high incomes, but it's commonly used.)

Time comparison
For example, at an untaxed income of $45,000 pa it would take 22 years, 81 days, 43 minutes to earn $1,000,000.

At $1,000,000 pa ($114.16/hr (the calculator says 114.15525114155251141552511415525), it would take 394.2 hrs (16 days, 10 min, 12 sec) to 'earn' $45,000.

[Note: My mind isn't naturally mathematical. If these figures are wrong and anyone can correct them, please do.]

Space comparison
The traditional method is to compare heights of piles of money, but I'm a bit wary of measuring that for notes. Would need quite a few to stack up, then put a weight on (donations gratefully received. Would be nice to compare, say $10 & $100 notes to check if they're different thicknesses (look, we can all dream)). Haven't found enough one dollar coins to stack up to do a calculation reasonably accurately. (Donations of these also gratefully received - hey, anyone wants to give me money, I'll take it, man.)

I hope people can work out this display - it may need rearranging for better comprehension.
In Notepad, I have put in extra spaces so that the numbers line up under one another, which makes comparison easier for non-intuitively arithmetic brains, but this display seems to compress multiple spaces back to one. I think there's a way around this, but will have to work out the HTML for it.

Australian Banknote sizes (in 2002)
$ 5 = 65 mm H x 131 mm W = 8,515 sq mm
$ 10 = 65 mm H x 138 mm W = 8,970 sq mm
$ 20 = 65 mm H x 146 mm W = 9,490 sq mm
$ 50 = 65 mm H x 152 mm W = 9,880 sq mm
$100 = 65 mm H x 159 mm W = 10,335 sq mm
[Note: 1 sq m = 1,000 x 1,000 mm]
[ = 1,000,000 (1 million) sq mm]

Number of notes to make up one million dollars
$ 5 = 200,000
$ 10 = 100,000
$ 20 = 50,000
$ 50 = 20,000
$100 = 10,000

Laid end-to-end, would stretch a length of:
$5 = 26,200,000 mm (26,200 metres = 26km, 200m)
$10 = 13,800,000 mm (13,800 metres = 13km, 800m)
$20 = 7,300,000 mm (7,300 metres = 7km, 300m)
$50 = 3,040,000 mm (3,040 metres = 3km, 40m)
$100 = 1,590,000 mm (1,590 metres = 1km, 590m)

Covering an area of
$5 = 1,703,000,000 sq mm (1,703 sq m)
$10 = 897,000,000 sq mm (897 sq m)
$20 = 474,500,000 sq mm (474.5 sq m)
$50 = 197,600,000 sq mm (197.6 sq m)
$100 = 103,350,000 sq mm (103.35 sq m)
You can multiply these by however many million dollars applies, e.g. 13.8 for George Trumbull, other multiples for Brad Cooper, Rodney Adler, AMP departing boss, etc.

Number of notes to make up forty-five thousand dollars
$ 5 = 9,000
$ 10 = 4,500
$ 20 = 2,250
$ 50 = 900
$100 = 450

Average wage, laid end-to-end, would stretch a length of:
$5 = 1,179,000 mm; 1,179 m = 1 km, 179 m
$10 = 621,000 mm; 621 m
$20 = 328,500 mm; 328.5 m
$50 = 136,800 mm; 136.8 m
$100 = 71,550 mm; 71.55 m

Covering an area of:
$5 = 76,635,000 sq mm; 76.635 sq m
$10 = 40,365,000 sq mm; 40.365 sq m
$20 = 21,352,500 sq mm; 21.3525 sq m
$50 = 8,892,000 sq mm; 8.892 sq m
$100 = 4,650,750 sq mm; 4.65075 sq m

Well, it may give you some sense of it ... (don't be depressed).
[Reminds me. This week I noticed that someone had glued down a $5 note on my nearest pedestrian crossing. I wonder if they were trying to show that our neighbourhood was too rich for people to bother picking one up? Or that we were rich & greedy & would risk stopping on the crossing (even when the "walk" sign is on, traffic comes around the corner onto you) to try & retrieve it? Or, since it's school holidays, maybe it's just something for a young person to watch & be amused by.]
[permalink][comment] - posted by Mez @ 10/12/2002 08:48:00 pm

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