I was reading an article the other day and it contained a recommendation that people rush out and get flu shots as quickly as possible, since there might be shortages in certain parts of the country this year.
Scientists of all kinds understand the notion of an order of magnitude. The basic idea is that the scale of things in one context may seem very large, while in another the same scale may seem very small. For instance, the distance to the South Pole may seem like a long way to you. But ‘long way’ is relative. If I compare that distance to the distance to the nearest grocery store, then sure, it’s a long way to the South Pole. But if I instead compare it to the distance to the Moon, then the South Pole is relatively close. In fact, you could walk to your mailbox, you would probably drive to the grocery store, you would fly to the South Pole, and you would need a spaceship to get to the moon. Each of these different modes of transportation is designed for distances of different orders of magnitude. An order of magnitude is a vast difference in scale between two measurements.
What does this have to do with the article I was reading? (more…)
