Grade 4 Math Book · Big Numbers & Place Value
How Much Is a Million?
by David M. Schwartz
Marvelosissimo the Mathematical Magician shows how big a million, a billion and a trillion really are: how tall a tower of a million kids would be, and how long it would take to count that high.
Why it's useful
Big numbers are hard to picture. This book makes place value and large numbers feel real.
- Million, billion, trillion. Kids see how each one is much bigger than the last.
- Estimation. The book shows how to reason about huge amounts.
- Place value. Thousands, millions and beyond connect to the base-ten pattern.
Try it in class or at home
- Count for a minute. How high can you count in one minute? Estimate how long a million would take.
- A thousand of something. Collect 1,000 small things as a class. How many classes for a million?
- Read big numbers. Write populations or distances in standard and word form.