Poll: One Billion

[lacktheknack]

Apparently, some people think that overpopulation is a lot scarier than it really is.

Anyways, it's 1,000,000,000. A thousand billions is a trillion, a thousand trillions is a quadrillion, then quintillion, et cetera. See the pattern?

Counting would be much more hellish than it already is if a quadrillion was a trillion trillions (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, as opposed to 1,000,000,000,000,000).

 

[s0p0g]

1000 millions are 1 milliard, of course, so a billion's one million millons. unfortunately, americans (does anyone else define a billion as 1000 millions?) seem to be unable to count (?)


aaand what he said:

If you call a million million a billion, then what do you call a thousand million?

 

[monkey_man]

Um... no?
1 Billion = 1,000,000,000
1,000 x 1,000,000 = 1,000,000,000
1,000,000 x 1,000,000 = 1,000,000,000,000

So... A better question is, why is UK bad at math?

In Norwegian, the word billion refers to a million x million, and we have a separate word (milliard) for 1000 x million.

Us Netherlandic folks use the same system.
I think it's better.
million 1,000,000 (can perhaps imagine)
milliard 1,000,000,000 (cannot imagine)
billion 1,000,000,000,000 (cannot imagine)
billiard 1,000,000,000,000,000 ( Certainly cannot imagine)
It keeps it nicely in pairs of 2.
But let's agree. they are all OVER NINETHOUSAND!!!1!!one!!1

 

[Faladorian]

I prefer Billion to be a million million because after all, that's a stupid thing to say, so it needs a word, wheres with the other, why can't I just say a thousand million the same way as if I were to say a hundred million?

a million million is a trillion. There is a word for it already, and yeah a million million does sound silly XD

Thats why the science channel bugs me. "This is one million million million million million million million million times the size of a peanut." Okay, that helps...

 

[Spacewolf]

the 1000 millions has been offically adopted in UK as well for quite awhile i think it was about the same time aluminium was made official in the us

 

[Xyliss]

Um... no?
1 Billion = 1,000,000,000
1,000 x 1,000,000 = 1,000,000,000
1,000,000 x 1,000,000 = 1,000,000,000,000

So... A better question is, why is UK bad at math?

So I assume your American. We're not bad at maths, we just have different definitions. Not that either one is more correct (from what I can gather), it just depends who you're talking to. Personally I (begrudgingly) think the American way seems more logical and is used more than the British version

Swing and a miss.
Personally, I think a billion is 1,000,000,000, which is 1,000 x 1,000,000
No matter how you say it, you can't argue with maths.
I wanna meet the person that coined "a billion is a million millions" and slap them.
It might just be an expression, basically saying "HOLY SHIT A BILLION IS ALOT!", but it is still retarded.

Like saying:
"The UK version is a hundred hundreds is a thousand"
"The US version is ten hundreds is a thousand"
(if you are unclear by this definition, it is the exact same as this thread's original post, it is just reduced)

The difference between those two is simple.
One can be seen as an expression, meaning "wow, that is a lot", or just retarded pseudo-math
The other can be seen as the definition of what that number is.

Not quite, they are both definitions of what a billion is. Just because one of them is a lot bigger does not mean they just said "wow, that is a lot" and guessed like you're inferring. Also you saying "personally, I think..." and then saying that what you said is a fact is wrong. It is either a fact or an opinion, what you have there is an opinion but seem too narrow minded to see that the word has more than one meaning

This thread has just made me curious as to what the fuck other "modifications" to math the UK has done.
Does the UK trillion have 28 zeroes?
Does the UK thousand have 2 zeroes?
Does the UK google have 89 zeroes?

Modifications? Our definition was the original one...surely the american one is the modification. Also it's googol and no we haven't changed anything

 

[Torrasque]

So the definition of a billion is different for the UK.
That is just silly.

1,000,000 = 1 million
1,000,000,000 = 1 billion
1,000,000,000,000 = 1 trillion
1,000,000,000,000,000 = 1 quadrillion
1,000,000,000,000,000,000 = 1 quintillion
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 = 1 sectillion
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 = 1 septillion
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 = 1 octillion
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 = 1 notillion
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 = 1 decitillion
1 followed by 330 zeros = 1 centillion
1 followed by 3330 zeroes = 1 millenitillion

I don't see why this isn't the same across the world.
The entire point of calling MY billion, a UK thousand million, is retarded.
You don't call a million a thousand thousand, and as far as I know, you don't call anything else a thousand *whatever*.
I like "my" system because thats how I learned it, thats how it makes sense, and because it is consistent throughout, that is how I shall use it.

I'm curious as to why "a thousand million" makes sense in any way.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I'm in the U.S. and have always understood it like this:

1 = one
10 = ten
100 = hundred
1,000 = thousand
10,000 = ten-thousand
100,000 = hundred-thousand
1,000,000 = million
10,000,000 = ten-million
100,000,000 = hundred-million
1,000,000,000 = billion
10,000,000,000 = ten-billion
100,000,000,000 = hundred-billion
1,000,000,000,000 = trillion
10,000,000,000,000 = ten-trillion
100,000,000,000,000 = hundred-trillion

I have no idea what comes after trillion...I think septillian is up there and, googles are as well. I am also pretty sure that once you get into the hundreds (standard) it gets more difficult to conceptualize things with those higher counters. 3 cats is easy but, trying to imagine 333 is a bit difficult for the human brain.

I hate numbers.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Um... no?
1 Billion = 1,000,000,000
1,000 x 1,000,000 = 1,000,000,000
1,000,000 x 1,000,000 = 1,000,000,000,000

So... A better question is, why is UK bad at math?

It's got nothing to do with maths. "Billion" is just a name. In the UK Billion used to refer to 1 million times 1 million and in the US it was 1 Thousand times 1 Million. Officially the UK now uses the word billion to refer to 1 thousand times 1 million but the 1 million times 1 million is still occasionally used.

Hm...ok, I think I've been ninja'd on that one, but there we go.

EDIT: Oh no, there's more...

So the definition of a billion is different for the UK.
That is just silly.

Europe as well, and it's not "silly", it's different.

I don't see why this isn't the same across the world.
The entire point of calling MY billion, a UK thousand million, is retarded.
You don't call a million a thousand thousand, and as far as I know, you don't call anything else a thousand *whatever*.
I like "my" system because thats how I learned it, thats how it makes sense, and because it is consistent throughout, that is how I shall use it.

Because the people of the world have developed different naming conventions for different things.
Go ahead, no one is asking you to change your language, I don't see why you're getting so uptight about it, anyone would think someone had said "your system is bad and wrong and you are stupid" when that's pretty much what you are saying, although your profile has you down as a pro troll so maybe that's to be expected. Numbers are defined mathematically but we still have to give those numbers names, it just so happens that european naming conventions are different to yours.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales

You may notice that long scale (million x million = Billion) came first.

I'm curious as to why "a thousand million" makes sense in any way.

Because it is a thousand million. You know what a million is, you know what a thousand is, there are a thousand millions there. Just like sixteen hundred as opposed to one thousand six hundred.