Some numbers are less certain than they appear
When is a hundred not a hundred? This might sound like a riddle, but it’s an interesting question. We tend to think of English words for numbers as precise terms, having stable, unique relationships with particular referents. These words can almost seem like parts of = 100, just as 102 = 100. But language is slipperier than that, and a is not always 100, nor is a always 1,000,000,000.
