curiosity question... british and US billion.

[something_totally_different]

the British and US billion - the former of which is a million million, and the latter is a thousand million.


yet when you here on the news... USA does X with 100 billion £

and

UK does X with 100 billion £


it leads to some confusion.

any explanations welcome.

 

[PMKeates]

"British" billion is in very, very infrequent use. Treat anything you hear as American billion, even in the budget report.

This will help explain: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales

 

[Ben M]

Everyone uses the American version nowadays

 

[PhillyDee]

Huh? Im confused with the second point . . . .

Billion = 1000 million to me. Wiki seems unsure . . . .

 

[Ben M]

Huh? Im confused with the second point . . . .

Billion = 1000 million to me. Wiki seems unsure . . . .

English billion used to be one million million.
American Billion is one thousand million.

 

[mangobreeder]

Huh? Im confused with the second point . . . .

removed post, was talking crap

 

[Saytan]

it generally is,

but techincally

1 one is 1 (one)

10 tens are 100 (hundred)

100 hundreds are 1,000 (Thousand)

1,000 thousands are 1,000,000 (million)

and 1,000,000 million is a 1,000,000,000,000 (billion)

100X100 != 1000

 

[snowdog]

We always use the long scale here. in fact 1000 millions are called miliards here.

 

[SlyReaper]

The old sysem had such elegant simplicity to it.

A million ^ 1 is million (mono-illion)
A million ^ 2 is billion (bi-illion)
A million ^ 3 is trillion (tri-illion)
etc.

But we're now pretty much forced to use the strange American system where a trillion is actually a billion, and a billion is a thousand times as small as it should be.

Oh and mangobreeder, you might want to check your maths.

 

[mangobreeder]

100X100 != 1000

read as 10 sets of 10 are 100 etc,

 

[PMKeates]

The old sysem had such elegant simplicity to it.

A million ^ 1 is million (mono-illion)
A million ^ 2 is billion (bi-illion)
A million ^ 3 is trillion (tri-illion)
etc.

The short-scale has similar elegance, just it's based on the thousand rather than the million.

A thousand ^ (1+0) is a thousand
A thousand ^ (1+1) is a million (mono-illion)
A thousand ^ (1+2) is a billion (bi-illion)
A thousand ^ (1+3) is a trillion (tri-illion)

I prefer the short-scale as it saves you having to "double-back" on the words, making it a little easier to work out. I.e.:

10,000,000,000 = short: ten billion; long: ten thousand [then] million
10,000,000,000,000 = short: 10 trillion; long: 10 billion
10,000,000,000,000,000 = short: 10 quadrillion; long: 10 thousand [then] billion

It'd be like calling a thousand "ten hundred"

 

[Rebelius]

We always use the long scale here. in fact 1000 millions are called miliards here.

in your cave?

 

[El Gringo]

in your cave?

That's hilarious, congratulations on your achievement

 

[Rebelius]

Ok, well where is he then that always uses the long scale?

edit: nevermind, didn't see that he was in Netherlands before.

do they REALLY always use the long scale? that just seems a bit backwards since not even the british use the "british" version any more.

 

[Saytan]

read as 10 sets of 10 are 100 etc,

100 sets of 100 are not 1000.

10 sets of 100 is 1000.

 

[Vasquez]

I was under the impression long scale was more or less defunct, I was never taught it in school or uni.

 

[daz]

Short scale fits in with SI units a lot easier too.

E.g. 10^3 = kilo, 10^6 = mega, 10^9 = giga

 

[V4NT0M]

"The economy will shrink by 12 gigapounds this year"