1 LARGE NUMBERS
AROUND US
1.1 A Lakh Varieties!
Eshwarappa is a farmer in Chintamani,
a town in Karnataka. He visits the
market regularly to buy seeds for his
rice field. During one such visit he
overheard a conversation between
Ramanna and Lakshmamma. Ramanna
said, “Earlier our country had about a
lakh varieties of rice. Farmers used to
preserve different varieties of seeds
and use them to grow rice. Now, we
only have a handful of varieties. Also,
farmers have to come to the market to buy seeds”.
Lakshmamma said, “There is a seed bank near my house. So far, they
have collected about a hundred indigenous varieties of rice seeds from
different places. You can also buy seeds from there.”
You may have heard the word ‘lakh’
before. Do you know how big one lakh is? Let
us find out.
Eshwarappa shared this incident with his
daughter Roxie and son Estu .
Estu was surprised to know that there
were about one lakh varieties of rice in this
country. He wondered “One lakh! So far I
have only tasted 3 varieties. If we tried a new
variety each day, would we even come close
to tasting all the varieties in a lifetime of 100
years?”
What do you think? Guess.
Reprint 2026-27
,Ganita Prakash | Grade 7
But how much is one lakh? Observe the pattern and fill in the boxes
given below.
The largest 3-digit number is 999
+1
The smallest 4-digit number is
The largest 4-digit number is
+1
The smallest 5-digit number is
The largest 5-digit number is
+1
The smallest 6-digit number is 1,00,000
1,00,000 is read as “One Lakh”
99,995
99,996 99,998
Roxie and Estu found that if they ate
one variety of rice a day, they would come
nowhere close to a lakh in a lifetime! Roxie
suggests, “What if we ate 2 varieties of
rice every day? Would we then be able to
eat 1 lakh varieties of rice in 100 years?”
What if a person ate 3 varieties of rice every day? Will they be able to
taste all the lakh varieties in a 100 year lifetime? Find out.
Estu said, “We know how many days there are in a year — 365, if
we ignore leap years. If we live for y years, the number of days in our
lifetime will be 365 × y.”
2
Reprint 2026-27
, Large Numbers Around Us
Choose a number for y. How close to one lakh is the number of days in
y years, for the y of your choice?
Figure it Out
1. According to the 2011 Census, the population of the town of
Chintamani was about 75,000. How much less than one lakh is 75,000?
2. The estimated population of Chintamani in the year 2024 is 1,06,000.
How much more than one lakh is 1,06,000?
3. By how much did the population of Chintamani increase from 2011
to 2024?
Getting a Feel of Large Numbers
You may have come across interesting facts like these:
• The world’s tallest statue is the ‘Statue of Unity’
in Gujarat depicting Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Its
height is about 180 metres.
• Kunchikal waterfall in Karnataka is said to drop
from a height of about 450 metres.
It is not always easy to get a sense of how big these measurements
are. But, we can get a better sense of their size when we compare them
with something familiar. Let us see an example.
Look at the picture on the right. Somu is 1 metre tall. If each floor
is about four times his height, what is the approximate height of the
building?
Which is taller — The Statue of Unity or this building? How much taller?
____________m.
We can see that the 500
height of the Statue of Unity
is close to 4 times the height 400
of Somu’s building.
How much taller is the 300
meters
Kunchikal waterfall
than Somu's building?
200
____________m.
How many floors should 100
Somu’s building have to be
as high as the waterfall? 0
____________ .
3
Reprint 2026-27
, Ganita Prakash | Grade 7
Is One Lakh a Very Large Number?
Eshwarappa asked Roxie and Estu, “Is a lakh big or
small?”
Roxie feels that 1 lakh is a large number:
• “We had one lakh varieties of rice — that
is a lot.”
• “Living 1 lakh days would mean living for 274
years — that is a really long time!”
• “If 1 lakh people stood shoulder to shoulder in a line they could
stretch as far as 38 kilometres.”
Estu, however, thinks it is not that big:
• “Do you know that the cricket stadium in
Ahmedabad has a seating capacity of more
than 1 lakh? One lakh people in such a small
area!”
• “Most humans have 80,000 to 1,20,000 hairs on
their heads. Imagine, 1 lakh hairs fit in such a
tiny space!”
• “I heard that there are some species of fish
where a female fish can lay almost one lakh
eggs at once very comfortably. Some even lay tens of lakhs of eggs
at a time.”
How do you view a lakh — is a lakh big or small?
Reading and Writing Numbers
We have already been using commas for 5-digit numbers like 45,830 in
the Indian place value system. As numbers grow bigger, using commas
helps in reading the numbers easily. We use a comma in between the
digits representing the “ten thousands” place and the “one lakh” place
as you have seen just before (1,00,000).
The number name of 12,78,830 is twelve lakh seventy eight thousand
eight hundred thirty.
Similarly, the number 15,75,000 in words is fifteen lakh seventy five
thousand.
Write each of the numbers given below in words:
(a) 3,00,600
(b) 5,04,085
(c) 27,30,000
(d) 70,53,138
4
Reprint 2026-27
AROUND US
1.1 A Lakh Varieties!
Eshwarappa is a farmer in Chintamani,
a town in Karnataka. He visits the
market regularly to buy seeds for his
rice field. During one such visit he
overheard a conversation between
Ramanna and Lakshmamma. Ramanna
said, “Earlier our country had about a
lakh varieties of rice. Farmers used to
preserve different varieties of seeds
and use them to grow rice. Now, we
only have a handful of varieties. Also,
farmers have to come to the market to buy seeds”.
Lakshmamma said, “There is a seed bank near my house. So far, they
have collected about a hundred indigenous varieties of rice seeds from
different places. You can also buy seeds from there.”
You may have heard the word ‘lakh’
before. Do you know how big one lakh is? Let
us find out.
Eshwarappa shared this incident with his
daughter Roxie and son Estu .
Estu was surprised to know that there
were about one lakh varieties of rice in this
country. He wondered “One lakh! So far I
have only tasted 3 varieties. If we tried a new
variety each day, would we even come close
to tasting all the varieties in a lifetime of 100
years?”
What do you think? Guess.
Reprint 2026-27
,Ganita Prakash | Grade 7
But how much is one lakh? Observe the pattern and fill in the boxes
given below.
The largest 3-digit number is 999
+1
The smallest 4-digit number is
The largest 4-digit number is
+1
The smallest 5-digit number is
The largest 5-digit number is
+1
The smallest 6-digit number is 1,00,000
1,00,000 is read as “One Lakh”
99,995
99,996 99,998
Roxie and Estu found that if they ate
one variety of rice a day, they would come
nowhere close to a lakh in a lifetime! Roxie
suggests, “What if we ate 2 varieties of
rice every day? Would we then be able to
eat 1 lakh varieties of rice in 100 years?”
What if a person ate 3 varieties of rice every day? Will they be able to
taste all the lakh varieties in a 100 year lifetime? Find out.
Estu said, “We know how many days there are in a year — 365, if
we ignore leap years. If we live for y years, the number of days in our
lifetime will be 365 × y.”
2
Reprint 2026-27
, Large Numbers Around Us
Choose a number for y. How close to one lakh is the number of days in
y years, for the y of your choice?
Figure it Out
1. According to the 2011 Census, the population of the town of
Chintamani was about 75,000. How much less than one lakh is 75,000?
2. The estimated population of Chintamani in the year 2024 is 1,06,000.
How much more than one lakh is 1,06,000?
3. By how much did the population of Chintamani increase from 2011
to 2024?
Getting a Feel of Large Numbers
You may have come across interesting facts like these:
• The world’s tallest statue is the ‘Statue of Unity’
in Gujarat depicting Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Its
height is about 180 metres.
• Kunchikal waterfall in Karnataka is said to drop
from a height of about 450 metres.
It is not always easy to get a sense of how big these measurements
are. But, we can get a better sense of their size when we compare them
with something familiar. Let us see an example.
Look at the picture on the right. Somu is 1 metre tall. If each floor
is about four times his height, what is the approximate height of the
building?
Which is taller — The Statue of Unity or this building? How much taller?
____________m.
We can see that the 500
height of the Statue of Unity
is close to 4 times the height 400
of Somu’s building.
How much taller is the 300
meters
Kunchikal waterfall
than Somu's building?
200
____________m.
How many floors should 100
Somu’s building have to be
as high as the waterfall? 0
____________ .
3
Reprint 2026-27
, Ganita Prakash | Grade 7
Is One Lakh a Very Large Number?
Eshwarappa asked Roxie and Estu, “Is a lakh big or
small?”
Roxie feels that 1 lakh is a large number:
• “We had one lakh varieties of rice — that
is a lot.”
• “Living 1 lakh days would mean living for 274
years — that is a really long time!”
• “If 1 lakh people stood shoulder to shoulder in a line they could
stretch as far as 38 kilometres.”
Estu, however, thinks it is not that big:
• “Do you know that the cricket stadium in
Ahmedabad has a seating capacity of more
than 1 lakh? One lakh people in such a small
area!”
• “Most humans have 80,000 to 1,20,000 hairs on
their heads. Imagine, 1 lakh hairs fit in such a
tiny space!”
• “I heard that there are some species of fish
where a female fish can lay almost one lakh
eggs at once very comfortably. Some even lay tens of lakhs of eggs
at a time.”
How do you view a lakh — is a lakh big or small?
Reading and Writing Numbers
We have already been using commas for 5-digit numbers like 45,830 in
the Indian place value system. As numbers grow bigger, using commas
helps in reading the numbers easily. We use a comma in between the
digits representing the “ten thousands” place and the “one lakh” place
as you have seen just before (1,00,000).
The number name of 12,78,830 is twelve lakh seventy eight thousand
eight hundred thirty.
Similarly, the number 15,75,000 in words is fifteen lakh seventy five
thousand.
Write each of the numbers given below in words:
(a) 3,00,600
(b) 5,04,085
(c) 27,30,000
(d) 70,53,138
4
Reprint 2026-27
