Get your numbers right!

[MoreCoffee]

Consider this
one million is 1000000
one billion is a bi-million which ought to be one million squared or 1000000000000 = 1000000[SUP]2[/SUP]
one trillion is a tri-million which ought to be one million cubed or 1000000000000000000 = 1000000[SUP]3[/SUP]
one quadrillion is one quad-million .... 1000000000000000000000000 = 1000000[SUP]4[/SUP]

So why do folk from the USA call 1000000000 a billion (it's real name is a milliard)?

 

[Josiah]

"A rose by any other name is still a rose."

 

[tango]

Consider this
one million is 1000000
one billion is a bi-million which ought to be one million squared or 1000000000000 = 1000000[SUP]2[/SUP]
one trillion is a tri-million which ought to be one million cubed or 1000000000000000000 = 1000000[SUP]3[/SUP]
one quadrillion is one quad-million .... 1000000000000000000000000 = 1000000[SUP]4[/SUP]

So why do folk from the USA call 1000000000 a billion (it's real name is a milliard)?

Tradition I guess. And the notion that a million is 1[sup]6[/sup], a billion is 1[sup]9[/sup], a trillion 1[sup]12[/sup] etc are pretty much standard among anyone who isn't trying to take a stand for the sake of it even if it isn't technically true based on what always used to be the case.

You could always ask someone if they will lend you a billion dollars and hope you can pull off a stunt where they lend you $1,000,000,000,000 and you only have to pay back $1,000,000,000 and thereby make an instant profit of $999,000,000 - good luck with that.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Tradition I guess. And the notion that a million is 1[sup]6[/sup], a billion is 1[sup]9[/sup], a trillion 1[sup]12[/sup] etc are pretty much standard among anyone who isn't trying to take a stand for the sake of it even if it isn't technically true based on what always used to be the case.

You could always ask someone if they will lend you a billion dollars and hope you can pull off a stunt where they lend you $1,000,000,000,000 and you only have to pay back $1,000,000,000 and thereby make an instant profit of $999,000,000 - good luck with that.

Non-English speaking Europeans do not thing as you do. For them what you call a billion is a milliard (10[SUP]9[/SUP]) what they call a billion is 10[SUP]12[/SUP]. The follow the pattern outlined in the original post for this thread.

 

[JRT]

A thousand is 1,000 and a million is formed by adding three zeros hence 1,000,000. The prefix "bi-" means two so a billion would be forms by adding two groups of three zeros hence 1,000,000,000 and so on to a trillion and more. Quite simple really.