> The mean of the second answer would not be ten times that of the first
I'm not sure how good an example this is to argue your point, because the second answer should only be ten times the first if the cost structure is a linear function with a zero constant term. Which seems like an awfully big assumption -- you might get economies of scale (nonlinear, decreasing derivative), or you might pick the low-hanging fruit first and then have to go after more difficult birds (nonlinear, increasing derivative), or you might have fixed costs that give you a constant term.
That being said, many people do have a lot of difficulty conceptualizing the difference between millions, billions and trillions [1].
I'm not sure how good an example this is to argue your point, because the second answer should only be ten times the first if the cost structure is a linear function with a zero constant term. Which seems like an awfully big assumption -- you might get economies of scale (nonlinear, decreasing derivative), or you might pick the low-hanging fruit first and then have to go after more difficult birds (nonlinear, increasing derivative), or you might have fixed costs that give you a constant term.
That being said, many people do have a lot of difficulty conceptualizing the difference between millions, billions and trillions [1].
[1] http://xkcd.com/558/