Millions Billions Zillions

<p><b>An essential guide to recognizing bogus numbers and misleading data</b> <p/>Numbers are often intimidating confusing and even deliberately deceptive--especially when they are really big. The media loves to report on millions billions and trillions but frequently makes basic mistakes or presents such numbers in misleading ways. And misunderstanding numbers can have serious consequences since they can deceive us in many of our most important decisions including how to vote what to buy and whether to make a financial investment. In this short accessible enlightening and entertaining book leading computer scientist Brian Kernighan teaches anyone--even diehard math-phobes--how to demystify the numbers that assault us every day. <p/>With examples drawn from a rich variety of sources including journalism advertising and politics Kernighan demonstrates how numbers can mislead and misrepresent. In chapters covering big numbers units dimensions and more he lays bare everything from deceptive graphs to speciously precise numbers. And he shows how anyone--using a few basic ideas and lots of shortcuts--can easily learn to recognize common mistakes determine whether numbers are credible and make their own sensible estimates when needed. <p/>Giving you the simple tools you need to avoid being fooled by dubious numbers <i>Millions Billions Zillions</i> is an essential survival guide for a world drowning in big--and often bad--data.</p>