1,000,000,000

[All Seeing Eye]

As far as i've always been aware, 1 Billion is written as 1,000,000,000 and 1 Trillion has been written as 1,000,000,000,000.

But a little internet search and some discussion on other boards has brought to my attention the fact that everyone seems to think that in the UK and Europe that 1 Billion is written as 1,000,000,000,000.

Can anyone explain to me why that is? as far as i'm concerned and everyone I know is concerned 12 zeros is a Trillion not a Billion so what the heck is going on?

 

[DBR]

Huh?

 

[John Picard]

TITS

 

[archeryguy1701]

Not sure what sites you're looking at, but you have it right... a billion is 12 zero's and a trillion of 15 zeros.

 

[TheBrew]

TITS

1,000,000,000 or 1,000,000,000,000?

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Huh?

EXACTLY!

Not sure what sites you're looking at, but you have it right... a billion is 12 zero's and a trillion of 15 zeros.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Maybe it's a language thing - American English vs British English?

In German it's a little different too,
- 1 Million.....1,000,000
- 1 Milliarde...1,000,000,000
- 1 Billion......1,000,000,000,000
- 1 Trillion.....1,000,000,000,000,000

 

[Crewman47]

Being British myself it's always confused me as I always try to figure out when people say there are 6 billion people in the world is billion with 9 zeros or 12 cause using the british way showing with 9 zeros means that there are only 6 thousand million people in the world.

The way I hear it is that the british way is slowly being fazed out in favour of the more popular way to show high numbers.

Like everthing else, including the imperial/metric debate, they should come up with a universal way of showing things instead of causing all this confusion.

Here's a Wiki entry on the names of the large numbers.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070928225157AAnCmOo

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I did wonder about this - why a British 'billion' is different from an American 'billion'. Something to do with short scales and long scales and all that.

 

[TheBrew]

Not sure what sites you're looking at, but you have it right... a billion is 12 zero's and a trillion of 15 zeros.

Nope, it's 9 and 12.

 

[John Picard]

I did wonder about this - why a British 'billion' is different from an American 'billion'. Something to do with short scales and long scales and all that.

DUH. You've never heard of the exchange rate?

 

[Mallory]

No wonder the G-20 can't agree to anything.

 

[archeryguy1701]

Not sure what sites you're looking at, but you have it right... a billion is 12 zero's and a trillion of 15 zeros.

Not sure what sites you're looking at, but you have it right... a billion is 12 zero's and a trillion of 15 zeros.

Nope, it's 9 and 12.

Crap, that wasn't bad at all! Leave me be, I haven't had coffee yet today!!!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I did wonder about this - why a British 'billion' is different from an American 'billion'. Something to do with short scales and long scales and all that.

DUH. You've never heard of the exchange rate?

Of course I have. But this hasn't got anything to do with money. It's all about the long and short scales.

 

[TheBrew]

I did wonder about this - why a British 'billion' is different from an American 'billion'. Something to do with short scales and long scales and all that.

DUH. You've never heard of the exchange rate?

Of course I have. But this hasn't got anything to do with money. It's all about the long and short scales.

Ever heard of a sense of humor?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

DUH. You've never heard of the exchange rate?

Of course I have. But this hasn't got anything to do with money. It's all about the long and short scales.

Ever heard of a sense of humor?

That too. But I haven't found any in *this* thread...

 

[John Picard]

Of course I have. But this hasn't got anything to do with money. It's all about the long and short scales.

Ever heard of a sense of humor?

That too. But I haven't found any in *this* thread...

How old are you? I hope I never get to be that old and cranky. For the record, I'm 40.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Maybe it's a language thing - American English vs British English?

In German it's a little different too,
- 1 Million.....1,000,000
- 1 Milliarde...1,000,000,000
- 1 Billion......1,000,000,000,000
- 1 Trillion.....1,000,000,000,000,000

In Italy it goes :

- 1 Milione.........1,000,000
- 1 Miliardo........1,000,000,000
- 1 Bilione..........1,000,000,000,000
- 1 Biliardo.........1,000,000,000,000,000
- 1 Trilione.........1,000,000,000,000,000,000
- 1 Triliardo........1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
- 1 Quadrilione...1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
- 1 Quadrilardo...1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
- 1 Quintilione.....1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
etc...

My opinion? Fuck this shit. Use scientific notation.

 

[Rii]

Being British myself it's always confused me as I always try to figure out when people say there are 6 billion people in the world is billion with 9 zeros or 12 cause using the british way showing with 9 zeros means that there are only 6 thousand million people in the world.

There are only six thousand million people in the world. The "British billion" has twelve zeroes, given that most in Britain don't actually use it the confusion is understandable.