By Lauren Hansen
BBC News
US bank customer Dalton Chiscolm could learn on Friday if he is one step closer to becoming the world’s first ever billion-trillionaire.
Mr Chiscolm sued Bank of America in Manhattan’s federal court in August for “$1,784 billion, trillion”, in a complaint that boiled down to poor customer service.
But US District Judge Denny Chin asked Mr Chiscolm to provide further evidence to support his claims by 23 October, or find them dismissed.
HOW WOULD YOU PAY
- Dr Kevin Houston works out how you could pay the $1,784 billion, trillion bill:
- First we’ll need a really rich person. Bill Gates fits that bill, having made $50bn in 2008. But Bill Gates alone can’t afford to pay Mr Chiscolm.
- What if everyone on Earth, all 6.8bn of them, were worth $50bn It would be a super-rich planet, but would only be worth $340 million, trillion.
- What if we had 1,000 similar super-rich planets We’re still not there because 1,000 super-rich planets adds up to only $340 billion, trillion.
- It would, in fact, take 5,247 super-rich, Bill Gates-filled planets to cover the $1,784 billion, trillion.
Judge Chin is familiar with large sums of money, having just sentenced financier Bernard Madoff to a 150-year prison term.
But Madoff’s $65bn (£40bn) Ponzi scheme pales in comparison to the amount Mr Chiscolm expects from the bank.
Judge Chin called the complaint “incomprehensible”, in an order released in court.
Many zeroes
The actual number, 1,784 billion trillion, is equal to 1.784 multiplied by 10 to the 24th power, or roughly one followed by 21 zeroes, said Chris Budd, Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Bath.
Using the International System of Units, this number is called a Yotta.
Which is how much exactly
“The sun,” Mr Budd said by explanation, “has the power of a Yotta microwave ovens.”
This unfathomable number is used mainly by scientists to measure the very small or the very large, said Dr Kevin Houston, senior lecturer at the the School of Mathematics at the University of Leeds.
But people are not meant to actually comprehend a number this size.
“I don’t think the human brain is set to deal with those numbers,” he said.
‘Completely silly’
Using the International System of Units, this number is called a Yotta.
International System of Units
- Kilo (K) = 3 zeroes
- Mega (M) = 6 zeroes
- Giga (G) = 9 zeroes
- Tera (T) = 12 zeroes
- Peta (P) = 15 zeroes
- Exa (E) = 18 zeroes
- Zetta (Z) = 21 zeroes
- Yotta (Y) = 24 zeroes
Source: Chris Budd
The specificity of Mr Chiscolm’s requested amount - $1,784 billion trillion - is even more curious.
“It could be that if they did say just one billion it would seem just plucked out of the air,” Dr Houston said. “Is it something to do with a date What happened in 1784”
Following up Dr Houston’s suggestion, we found a few events in 1784 that could offer insight into the inspiration behind the number.
Is Mr Chiscolm an American nationalist On 14 January, the American Revolutionary War ended and Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris. Or perhaps he is a classical music afficionado, for Mozart’s Sonata in B flat, K454, premiered in Vienna on 29 April. May be he is a newspaper fan, because America’s first daily newspaper, Penns Packet and General Advertiser, was published on 21 September.
Regardless of the reasoning, the monetary amount is beyond financial recognition.
“The guy wants more money than there is in the world,” Dr Houston said. “It’s completely silly.”
Getting the claim approved by the judge may be one hurdle for this disgruntled customer. But finding the money if he won the suit would be quite another.