You’ve likely seen the classic Powers of Ten video from 1977. It starts on an individual and continues to zoom out farther to a view of galaxies. The video provides a sense of scale that makes really big (and really small) numbers more relatable. We’re just not very good at picturing scales beyond a certain range.
So when you hear that retired baseball player Derek Jeter took an estimated 342,000 swings during his professional career, you get that it’s a lot, but only kind of. The New York Times went all Powers of Ten on the Jeter swing count to help you see better.
The piece starts with a single swinging Jeter, and as you scroll down you get the average swings per at-bat, then practice swings per game. Keep going, and you get the career total.
