>justed wanted to know this curiosity in AE: > >in britian an germany whe can 10^9 Milliard(e) you call it billion, why? >in germany billion means 10^12.
This is one of the areas that I think the Americans got it right. Whereas the billion here used to mean 1 million million, it has gradually become to mean 1 thousand million. Consider the series ten, hundred, thousand, million, billion. It increases tenfold up to 1 thousand, then increases by factors of 10^3. This corresponds to SI prefixes which go up tenfold up to kilo, and 10^3 jumps thereafter. The same goes on the other end for tenths, hundredths, thousandths etc. A much better fit to SI than having each as the square of the previous (e.g. 1 million = 1 thousand x 1 thousand, but 1 billion = 1 million x 1 million). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tom Wade, EuroKom | E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (all domain mailers). Dale House | X400: g=tom;s=wade;o=eurokom;p=eurokom;a=eirmail400;c=ie 30, Dale Road | Tel: +353 (1) 278-7878 Stillorgan | Fax: +353 (1) 278-7879 Co Dublin | Disclaimer: This is not a disclaimer Ireland | Tip: "Friends don't let friends do Unix !"
