so I recently learned that during hyperinflation, Zimbabwe had a 100 trillion dollar banknote

which sent me down the rabbit hole of hyperinflation, and let me tell you, if there is anything that makes currency seem like magic, this is it

I'm still 100% confused

biggest number on a bill ever, btw, was this note in hyperinflationary Hungary, which is 100 million "b pengos"

b pengo is actual a billion pengos, which makes this...100 quintillion pengos

this coin, from 1923 Germany, might be the coin with the biggest number on it, but I'm not sure

having read the Wikipedia article on hyperinflation I can tell you that I still have absolutely no idea how you end up with 100 trillion dollar bills or 500 millionen mark coins, it seems like it would become ludicrous far before this point

bat-signal to @Undercoverhist: how do the numbers end up going so high? why doesn't it stop earlier? what...do giant bills even "mean"?

do you have a good explanation/source for laypeople?