>> I'm thinking of two numbers. The first starts with a 7. The second starts 
>> with a 2. Which is bigger?
>
> Conversely, I'm thinking of two numbers. One ends with 3. The other ends 
> with 5. Which is bigger?

Obviously you can't tell either, but at least in your example I *know* that 
your 3 and 5 actually mean 3 and 5, and not 3*10^x and 5*10^y, where x and y 
are unknown.  For example that allows me to do the first step of an addition 
routine or something.

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