Mind over Computer 19 To give you some idea of how Moore's Law works, the graph shows growth in computing power over time; the y-axis is a logarithmic plot using engineering notation. Because the growth is exponential we rapidly end up with very large numbers. Scientists use a special notation to cope with these large and small numbers. In scientific notation a number is written out in a compact form. For example, three hundred can be written as 3.0 x 107. To expand it back to a regular number you move the decimal point in 3.0 two spots to the right, making the number 300.0. A similar technique is used for small numbers. To expand 3.0 x 10? move the decimal point 2 points to the left, giving 0.03. Why use scientific notation? Well, once the numbers get large they would no longer fit on a page! We can shorten the representation of numbers even further by dropping the ‘3.0 x’ part and just looking at the order of magnitude. The number 10°, one with eighty zeroes after it, is the number of atoms in the Earth, and 10’ the number of particles in the known Universe. 10° meters is the ‘plank number’ believed to be the smallest dimension you can have, and 10!” is called a googol, named by Milton Sirotta, the ee Moore's Law is only one example Exponential Growth of Computing for 210 Years Moore's Law was the fifth, not the first, paradigm to bring exponential growth in computing eae A) = pees <<“ @ 10 ia SIRES gt 2 10 af eS [s) Ping 1") ‘- H 10° es oy 2 ae ; ie 0 = Po fanny 2 10 P ' E og? we ie \ = :! \\\\\e" | 2 . S 10° Layne 4 : i — ‘ 1088 = _Electomecha ee Vac ne _Transisto integrated Circu Moore’s Law Extended by Ray Kurzweil HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_015709