3 Trillion Trees in the world

Archimedes, 3 Trillion Trees and Life in the Universe

By Caleb A. Scharf | September 3, 2015 

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(Credit: original by Ragesoss)

The art of estimation has a long history for humans. In The Sand Reckoner, written in the third century B.C., the Greek philosopher Archimedes famously demonstrated that he could - in principle - evaluate the number of grains of sand that would fit in the universe.

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The final tally comes in at an estimated 3.04 trillion. This figure is 7 times the previous best estimate (of around 420 billion). It's also apparent that the global number of trees is decreasing by about 15 billion a year, a figure mostly attributable to human activity such as deforestation.