#44: Significant Figures
This storyteller has some sharp eyes, that’s for sure. When they were in college they took an astronomy course. One day they were learning about “sig figs,” or significant figures, in class and the professor brought out a visual example. She brought out several plastic tubs filled with 1 million multi-colored microbeads to illustrate the concept.
The professor said that out of all the red, blue, yellow, and teal beads there was one singular black bead. Literally one-in-a-million. She said no one had ever been able to find the black bead, and let her students take a look. Right away, our storyteller spotted the singular black bead stuck to the end of the tub. They shook up the beads inside, and she found the black bead AGAIN. They literally beat one-in-a-TRILLION odds of finding the black bead!