[DrDick (OP)]

OK, my turn for a question.  I learned a long time ago that the word billion has different meanings on the two sides of the pond.  In the US, a billion is a thousand million, while in the UK (and other countries?) a billion is a million million.

Given this, what about other "-illion" words, like trillion, quadrillion, etc.?

Here are the US meanings (and I know, the commas are an Americanism, too):

million = 1,000,000 = 10^6
billion = 1,000,000,000 = 10^9
trillion = 1,000,000,000,000 = 10^12
quadrillion = 1,000,000,000,000,000 = 10^15

So, what are the UK meanings?

Dick

[neilep]

Hello DrDick,

I know there is a wiki entry that explains the ambiguities between the two versions..I'll try and find it if you wish...but I think having someone post the answer would be better....

Great question...great to see you.

[Seany]

Billion
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Billion may mean:

Either of two numbers (see long and short scales for more detail):
1,000,000,000 (one thousand million; 10^9) - increasingly common meaning in English-language usage

1,000,000,000,000 (one million million; 10^12) - increasingly rare meaning in English-language usage; standard meaning in many other languages

[Seany]

Trillion
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Trillion may mean either of the two numbers (see long and short scales for more detail):

1,000,000,000,000 (one million million; 1012) - increasingly common meaning in English language usage.

1,000,000,000,000,000,000 (one million million million; 1018) - increasingly rare meaning in English language usage

[Seany]

Quadrillion
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Quadrillion may mean either of the two numbers (see long and short scales for more detail):

1,000,000,000,000,000 (one thousand trillion; 1015) - increasingly common meaning in English language usage

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (1024) - increasingly rare meaning in English language usage

[DrDick (OP)]

OK, I get it.  So each new word is a million of the former one.

1 billion = 1 million million
1 trillion = 1 million billion
1 quadrillion = 1 million trillion
etc.

(in Queen's English usage, anyway)

Thanks,
Dick

[Seany]

Yup. Your Welcome [] Wikipedia is so handy lol

[Batroost]

Guess again...

The Bank of England adopted the '1000 Million = 1 Billion' American definition about twenty years ago, and in practice, everyone else followed suit. Whenever you hear someone talk about a Billion Pounds or a Billion People this is the definition they are using.

[Bored chemist]

If anyone's interested the English word for 10^9 is milliard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milliard

[Seany]

A milliard. What's the difference between that and a billion?

[Bored chemist]

According to this site
http://www.solfire.com/scrabble/
The difference between a milliard and a billion is 2 points if you are playing scrabble.
The word milliard has the advantage that nobody thinks it means 10^12 but it also has the disadvantage that practically nobody knows what it does mean.

[eric l]

Guess again...

The Bank of England adopted the '1000 Million = 1 Billion' American definition about twenty years ago, and in practice, everyone else followed suit. Whenever you hear someone talk about a Billion Pounds or a Billion People this is the definition they are using.

The problem remains that this has not been addopted by other languages, at least not in Europe !  There is more logic in billion being "one million to the second power", trillion "one billion to the third power" and so on.

[Batroost]

this has not been addopted by other languages, at least not in Europe

Though strangely, both systems were invented by the French!

I agree that sticking with powers of a million might be more logical - but languages develop through common usageand not always in a logical manner. Personally, I think a system based on powers of a 1000 is more userful in the real world; it's no more ilogical than calling our 9th month September, our 10th October and so on.