How is this number described: 2,432,902,008,000,000,000?

Question

An article in the December 2006 issue of DISCOVER magazine described the number as "2.4 billion billion."

Is this description correct? Why, or why not?

Answer 1

Interestingly, there's no global standard on how to name numbers that are 1,000,000,000 or greater.

According to the table at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_large_numbers, 2.43 x 10^18 should properly be called "2.43 quintillion" in the American system and "2.43 trillion" in the European system.

I thought maybe they chose to call the numer 2.43 billion billion to avoid this controversy... but since that number would be 2.43 x 10^18 in the American system and 2.43 x 10^24 in the European system, even that reason falls flat.

So I conclude that Discover called it 2.43 billion billion (in the same way that a million can be called "a thousand thousand") in order to emphasize how big it is. Humans have at least a vague concept of the enormity of a billion (thanks to Sagan? ;)) but almost no concept of how big a trillion is, let alone a quintillion.

(Another interesting related article on this issue, which shows which countries use which system, is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales .)

Answer 2

I think it is correct.
1 billion is 10^9, which is 10 with 9 zeroes after it.
So a billion billion is 10^18, which is 10 with 18 zeroes after it. That would be this number if the leading 2 were a 1 and the rest of the numbers were zero. So this, instead of being ONE billion billion is approximately 2.4 billion billion.
Strictly speaking it is 2.432903008 billion billion.

Answer 3

In the US it would be: 2 quintillion, 432 quadrillion, 902 trillion, 8 billion.

In the US the number would be 2.4... billion billion.

In the UK the numbers go up by millions, not thousands. So the number would be: 2 trillion, 432,902 billion, 8,000 million OR: 2 trillion, 432 billiard, 902 billion, 8 milliard .

Use scientific notation and it the same all over the world.

Answer 4

In the US defintion, a billion is 10^9.
The bumber you show is about 2.4 * 10^18.

Since 10^18 = 10^9 * 10^9, one can say that the units are indeed a billion billion.

Answer 5

according to US conventions, 1 billion = 10^9
therefore, 1 billion billion = (10^9)*(10^9)= 10^18
therefore, the number you have given is 2.432902008 * (10^18), i.e 2.432902008 billion billion and approximately equal to
2.4 billion billion

Answer 6

ehh... no. "billion billion" is just a way of saying "quintillion". They don't like getting into anything higher than trillion. So if you hear a kid say "I wish I had a million billion trillion dollars." then he means $1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, or an octillion.