Fabulous Fab

With the SEC finally prosecuting and winning a case against someone behind the financial crisis, we need to ask ourselves "Is this a meaningful victory for the SEC?"

This is something that students might usually debate in humanities, but I think that these types of debates come to life in math class. It is the numbers that really help us make meaning of the trial of Fabulous Fab, Fabrice Tourre. In this video clip, Stephen Colbert brings light on the situation in a way that is guaranteed to get the attention of your class. He points out that the SEC prosecuted someone responsible for 1 billion of the 22 trillion lost in the financial crisis. Then he breaks out a calculator and tries to figure out how much this actually "matters." He stops in the process saying that his calculator can't fit those numbers. My thinking is that this is a perfect opportunity to discuss large numbers on the calculator, scientific notation and the number sense surrounding very large numbers (especially since you don't need a calculator to realize that 1 billion/22 trillion = 1/22000). It might be a great time to discuss the relationship between billions, trillions and other fabulously large numbers.

Here is the clip:


Here is the link to the clip: http://on.cc.com/17z7smc