What does a trillion dollars really look like? With tech behemoth Apple becoming the world’s first publicly traded company valued at $1 trillion, we asked some mathematical minds to help us wrap our heads around a massive number.
READ MORE: Apple hits $1 trillion in value. Only 16 countries are worth more
Travel to infinity and beyond
(Disclaimer: that subtitle was not written by math experts!)
According to the math department at MacEwan University: “To travel a trillion kilometres, you need to travel back and forth between the Earth and sun 6,666 times, plus a one-way trip from Earth just past Mercury, the closest planet to sun.”
Spend it wisely
Professor Christoph Frei of the University of Alberta calculates that to spend $1 trillion, you would need to spend $33.8 million each day for 81 years.
If it’s time you’re spending, Global markets specialist Jim Watt uses this illustration: one trillion seconds adds up to 32,000 years.
Cover a landmark
Try turning the $1 trillion into Canadian $20 bills, Frei suggests. He says you’ll end up with 65 billion $20 bills, “each of which has a size of 0.0106 square-metre. These banknotes would have a total size of 692 square-kilometres, compared to the area of Edmonton of 684 square-kilometres.”
So a trillion dollars in twenties covers more than all of Edmonton, even with the exchange rate factored in. There’s a hiccup with trying this example in real life, though: Frei says there aren’t 65 billion Canadian $20 bills in existence.
Sports & space
The Death Star II doesn’t exist, either (sorry Star Wars fans), but if it did, the math department staff at MacEwan determines a trillion square-feet fits easily across it. “A trillion square-feet is not enough to cover the whole surface of the Death Star II. It would need an extra 346,670,000,000 to cover it all!”
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And for the sports fan who just can’t get enough, the math minds of MacEwan add that 17,361,111 football fields would fit into one trillion square-feet. That is, of course, including the end zones.*
*Football calculation uses NFL fields, with apologies to CFL fans everywhere.
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