Is it 1,000 million or 1 million million ...... and is the definition different in the States to over here in the UK?
2007-07-06 06:47:17 · 24 answers · asked by Scoundy 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
Yes and no. First, to recap what we say here in the US:
1,000 = one thousand
1,000,000 = one million
1,000,000,000 = one billion
So for Americans, one billion is "one thousand million". In the French and German systems, it's 1000 more than this (10^12), or "one million million". This was the same in the UK for a long time (having called 1,000,000 a "milliard"), but in recent years the UK has come to adopt the US terminology.
2007-07-06 07:07:43 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
In the States, a billion is 1000 million.
In the UK, a billion is a million million. In the UK, 1000 million would be called a milliard.
2007-07-06 13:52:00 · answer #2 · answered by tastywheat 4 · 5⤊ 0⤋
It's 10^9 in the USA but 10^12 in British usage. That's why many British publications intended for US readership avoid the word entirely and write "a thousand million" or "a million million". Two peoples divided by a common language, that's us.
2007-07-06 19:59:35 · answer #3 · answered by jw 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ah a bit of nostalga there.
Yes in the UK a billion used to be a million million.
But then in the 70's and 80's the american definition started to take over, which is a thousand million.
I'm happy with that definition, because it is easier to call someone a billionaire, rather than a thousand-millionaire.
2007-07-06 20:16:39 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, BILLION is certainly one thousand million in the US, but it is one million million in UK. However, quite recently, British financial people, journalists, and mid-Atlantic trendies have adopted the (illogical) US meaning as well.
In most other European languages, billion retains its original English meaning of one million million. The word for one thousand million is MILLIARD, and this is also common amongst the European languages.
The logic for this is the use of the bi- prefix which indicates two, as in bicycle, biped, and binary (a system using two states).
Thus, a millon twice over is billion, and a million three times over is trillion. Using these standard latin/greek prefixes is pretty well universal, except in the USA.
2007-07-06 14:39:29 · answer #5 · answered by Rolf 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
1000 million in the US and UK
1000000 Million outside them.
2007-07-06 13:55:27 · answer #6 · answered by zohair 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
1,000 million.
billion = 10^9 = 10^3 (thousand)*10^6(million).
It is the same everywhere that uses the decimal system.
2007-07-06 14:10:18 · answer #7 · answered by ironduke8159 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
1 million million
2007-07-06 13:52:26 · answer #8 · answered by Natacha 1 · 1⤊ 3⤋
In the Uk it's a thousand million
2007-07-06 13:51:45 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 4⤋
This is one definition which we have lost to the USA. A billion is now, de jure, a thousand million.
Let's not lose the definition of the word "football". Be prepared to die in a ditch defending this one. Kick "soccer" into touch.
2007-07-06 13:57:48 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋