gaer
Senior Member
US-English
British : a thousand milllions
This is from Merriam-Webster. What I find particularly curious is that it is not on the Cambridge site. And I've never seen it used.
Is that actually used in the UK instead of billion? I was sure the answer was "no", but I've learned not to speak too quickly.
Gaer
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Moderator note.
The topic of "what is a billion?" raises a lot of discussion among those who do not routinely use the term.
This is a very long thread and contains a great deal of opinion.
Below I have quoted some of the posts that contain straightforward and robust statements about the UK use of billion.
You are welcome to read the rest of the thread and to add to the discussion if you wish.
This is from Merriam-Webster. What I find particularly curious is that it is not on the Cambridge site. And I've never seen it used.
Is that actually used in the UK instead of billion? I was sure the answer was "no", but I've learned not to speak too quickly.
Gaer
_________________________________________________________________
Moderator note.
The topic of "what is a billion?" raises a lot of discussion among those who do not routinely use the term.
This is a very long thread and contains a great deal of opinion.
Below I have quoted some of the posts that contain straightforward and robust statements about the UK use of billion.
You are welcome to read the rest of the thread and to add to the discussion if you wish.
Very interesting thread,
I would just like to point out that both systems were invented in Europe, just like the confusing month/day/year now used in the U.S. versus the day/month/year system used by the Brits and most other people when writing calendrical dates. Now, back to the counting problem. Interestingly enough, both methodologies have a history in France where both systems were used at alternate periods in its history. Well, here's the logic behind the American system:
1,000=thousand
1,000,000=million (basically a thousand thousand)
1,000,000,000=billion (2 sets of zeros after a thousand)
1,000,000,000,000=trillion (3 sets of zeros after a thousand)
1,000,000,000,000,000=quadrillion (4 sets " " " " thousand)
1,000,000,000,000,000,000=quintillion (5 sets " " " " thousand)
.
.
.
You get the logic by now. Some other interesting numbers:
10^100 (ten to the hundredth power/to the power of 100)= googol (essentially one followed by a hundred zeros)
10^10^100= 10googol =googolplex (one followed by a googol zeros).
Hope this helps you understand our system.
Some further sentences from the Wiki article that TT has linked above < Here's about the simplest clear explanation I could find.> are very useful.For most of the 19th and 20th centuries, the United Kingdom uniformly used the long scale while the United States of America used the short scale, so that usage of the two systems was often referred to as "British" and "American" respectively.
In 1974 the government of the UK abandoned the long scale, so that the UK now exclusively applies the short scale interpretation in mass media and official usage.
...
The two systems can be a subject of controversy and can arouse emotion. Usage changes can evoke resentment in adherents to the older system, while national differences of any kind can acquire patriotic overtones.
One thousand million. That's been the "official" meaning of billion for a number of years.
See this 1974 answer by Harold Wilson to a written Parliamentary Question:
Source
Here as under, is given, what has been agreed upon internationally the mathamatical units
and are being used by banks all over the world for currency counting.
10 to the power of 3 = 1000 ( thousand )
10 to the power of 6 = 1000,000 ( thousand thousand = million )
10 to the power of 9 = 1000,000,000 ( thousand million = billion )
10 to the power of 12 = 1000,000,000,000 ( thousand billion = trillion )
like wise it goes on to quadrillion etc., always increasing the power number by 3.
I hope this explanation , even though mathamatically expressed , gives a definite understanding into the english term " million " ; " billion " etc. In my opinion, this is well with in the scope of this forum , that the above explanation is given.
Thanks
Sabapathy
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