what is a billion?

Answer 1

Billion may mean:

Either of two numbers:

1,000,000,000 (one thousand million; 10^9) - on the short scale ("American system") increasingly common meaning in English language usage

1,000,000,000,000 (one million million; 10^12) - on the long scale ("British system") increasingly rare meaning in English language usage; standard meaning in many other languages

BUT WHY ARE THERE TWO MEANINGS? (WHY ARE THERE TWO SCALES?)

The so-called British system was in fact invented by a French mathematician , Nicolas Chuquet in the 1490s, round about the time of Columbus sailing the ocean blue, i.e. long before there was an American system, and an America. i.e the rest of the world used it as well, for several centuries. Many countries still do.

Around 1550, Jacques Peletier du Mans took a system based on powers of 10^6, and added the term "milliard" for 10^9. This system was then used in England and Germany and part of the rest of Europe. This system is sometimes referred to as the Chuquet-Peletier system.

One reason for the latterday increase in popularity of the short scale is that it ties in much better with the International System of Units of weights and measurements (SI scale) in which everything is in "x 1,000" steps, not "x 1 million" steps

THE LONG SCALE

one million = 10^6
one billion = 10^12
one trillion = 10^18
one quadrillion = 10^24
one quintillion = 10^30
one sextillion = 10^36
one septillion = 10^42
one octillion = 10^48
one nonillion = 10^54
one decillion = 10^60
one undecillion = 10^66
one duodecillion = 10^72
one tredecillion = 10^78
one quattuordecillion = 10^84
one quindecillion = 10^90
one sexdecillion = 10^96
one septendecillion = 10^102
one octodecillion = 10^108
one novendecillion = 10^114
one vigintillion = 10^120
one centillion = 10^600

THE SHORT SCALE

one million = 10^6
one billion = 10^9
one trillion = 10^12
one quadrillion = 10^15
one quintillion = 10^18
one sextillion = 10^21
one septillion = 10^24
one octillion = 10^27
one nonillion = 10^30
one decillion = 10^33
one undecillion = 10^36
one duodecillion = 10^39
one tredecillion = 10^42
one quattuordecillion = 10^45
one quindecillion = 10^48
one sexdecillion = 10^51
one septendecillion = 10^54
one octodecillion = 10^57
one novendecillion = 10^60
one vigintillion = 10^63
one centillion = 10^303

The twentieth century term, a googol, (10^100) is therefore less than a long scale vigintillion but more than a short scale vigintillion. The word "vigintillion" of course derives from Chuquet's use of the French system of counting where 20 = vingt,

Answer 2

A billion seconds is about 31 years. A billion miles is roughly the distance to the planet Saturn. The US government spends a billion dollars every few hours.

Answer 3

You arrange as follows
Quadrillian 10^24, Trillian 10^18, Billion 10^13

10 C 10^8, C 10^7 10L 10^6, L 10^5,

10Th 10^4 Th 10^3 H10^2, T 10^1, U10^0
From this you will get your answer.

Answer 4

10 Million = 1 billion

Answer 5

A billion is 10^9 (number).

Answer 6

All of the other people who answered were at least half wrong. They all failed to consider the British system.

In the United States, the word "billion" means "one thousand million." Thats 1,000,000,000 or 10^9 in exponential notation.

But in the UK, the word "billion" means "one million million." That's 1,000,000,000,000 or 10^12 in exponential notation.

If a person in the UK wants to say what Americans mean by a billion, he or she would say "one thousand millions."

So if you want to say $50 billion in the UK, you would say, "fifty thousand million dollars."

Answer 7

A Thousand Million

Answer 8

1,000 million. people don't realize how much a billion really is. I always say that if you spend a dollar every second you would go through a million in a month or so, but a billion would last you MANY YEARS!

Answer 9

Strictly, 1,000,000,000. In Britain however, a billion is sometimes regarded as being 1,000,000,000,000. This is not a very logical use of the termhowever, and has largely fallen out of use.

Answer 10

Either of two numbers (see long and short scales for more detail):
1,000,000,000 (one thousand million; 109) - increasingly common meaning in English language usage
1,000,000,000,000 (one million million; 1012) - increasingly rare meaning in English language usage; standard meaning in many other languages
Billion, a modem manufacturer