We see numbers every day, especially while on the web, but we rarely stop to think about what they mean. The Dictionary of Numbers is a new Google Chrome extension that can help put these arbitrary digits into terms that humans can understand and appreciate.
The tool allows you to gauge numbers in two ways, you can hover your mouse over a number in an article and get a quick translation, or you can type a value into the toolbar icon and get a few definitions for the number.
When you read that a fire consumed 300,000 acres, it comes across as just a meaningless number. When the Dictionary of Numbers tells you that’s the size of Los Angeles, CA, you realize just how huge that area really is. 239,000 miles sounds far, but with this extension, you realize that it’s actually the distance from the Earth to the Moon. These distinctions make numbers mean a lot more to the human mind.
Original Source –BoingBoing
