that an american billion is different to an english billion, so next time someone says they'll give you a billion pounds, make sure you know which billion they are refering to.
a gov dept told mock the week researchers that if it was refering to £s then it was of course an english billion, when questioned further (so is that a 1000 million or a million million?) and they went to check they came back with the answer... erm it's an american billion.
why do americans have different numbers to us??
mand x
Mand, South Wales, Full-time working, single mother to 2 scarily independent girls.
I AM A PROUD PLUMERIA SISTER
This confused me very muchly when I was watching Mock The Week.
I still can't get my three working brain cells around it.
Now I'll play your ghost as my ace, whenever I'm led astray.
But I am actually good, can't help it if we're tilted.
I'm in my right place, don't be a downer.
*blink*
I know the dollar is worth less than the pound, so to say a billion dollars would only be (half?) a billion pounds, exchange rates permitting...is that what you were getting at? Lol confused
So one day, the British people were all drinking their tea and playing croquet and whatnot.
An average Londoner going about his tea drinking business.
Anyway, then some people went off in a big boat and discovered America!
America, home of the free
So everyone was happy until some guys got bored. They threw down their croquet hammers and said "I will not stand for this!
The indignance!
Then there was this big civil war between the settlers and the guys who got bored.
Fisticuffs!
Then the guys who were bored before won, and they wanted to reject everything of their past lives, so they were like "Lol we r not taking ur number system we r making our ownz"
And thus, the difference between the American and European billion came about.
Benji's Weekly Insight:
I have a Tonberry teddy called Grudge.
*blink*
I know the dollar is worth less than the pound, so to say a billion dollars would only be (half?) a billion pounds, exchange rates permitting...is that what you were getting at? Lol confused
No. They just do it differently to us, like, a billion is a million million, in America a thousand million is a billion.
I think.
Something like that,nothing to do with exchange rates.
"Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."
million = 1,000,000 (6)
million million = 1,000,000,000,000 (12) *British*
thousand million = 1,000,000,000 (9) *American*
However A Billion has officially been a thousand Million since about the 70's in both countries.
*added* found the year, it was 1974. Nowadays a Thousand Million is called a Billion and a million Million is often refered to as a long Billion
Let me be the one you call
If you jump i'll break your fall
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night
If you need to fall apart
I can mend a broken heart
If you need to crash then crash and burn YOU'RE NOT ALONE
A trillion is a million million.
so: 1,000,000,000,000 (12)
basically we work in short scale along with America and most countries in the world, the long system is used by a couple of countries in central Europe.
urm, yea I too lazy to think of how to describe short and long, will let Wiki do it for me:
Short scale refers to a system of large number names in which every new term greater than million is 1,000 times the previous term: billion means a thousand millions (109), trillion means a thousand billions (1012), and so on. Long scale refers to a system of names in which every new term greater than million is 1,000,000 times the previous term: billion (from bi and million) means a million to the power of two or a million millions (1012), trillion (from tri and million) means a million to the power of three or a million billions (1018), and so on.
Let me be the one you call
If you jump i'll break your fall
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night
If you need to fall apart
I can mend a broken heart
If you need to crash then crash and burn YOU'RE NOT ALONE
Yeah, no, I avoid big numbers like that.
I have no use for them, and the number of zeros just confuses me a bit. I still have to think 'one two three four five six' when I'm working out the zeros on a million.
Confusing stuff.
To be honest, if somebody offered me a billion, I don't think i would really care if they meant it in the english way or the american, I would be happy with cash!
x.
"I walked home alone that night. I didn't care how she got home, it was weird. I mean, I *liked* her, I liked her A LOT...but out there on the field, it was just different then. That was the last time I saw her. I mean, most people don't taste that kind of love- at least I tasted it once, right?"
Anyway, then some people went off in a big boat and discovered America!
America, home of the free
did anyone else notice this isn't America? lol
I thought a billion was a billion no matter where it was. Except exchange rates would obviously mean the amount would be different in pounds compared to dollars. But the "billion" part was the same number of zero's?
I'm pretty sure it only matters in politics anyway
