How much is a Billion?

In North America, a billion is a thousand million, ie. 1,000,000,000

but I've heard that in some parts of the world, a billion is a million million, ie: 1,000,000,000,000

Since we have members from all over the world here, I wonder if anyone can confirm if this is true or not....

I can confirm it even though I am another North American. The BBC world
service will never say billion, it is always thousand million. I have no idea
what the European definition of a Trillion is, assuming they even have such
a word.

Yes, I can confirm that in the UK, a billion is a million million.
I'm not sure if the word trillion was exported to America or vice versa but I'd assume that it would be a billion billion here.

I don't have much use for numbers that high (I'm on the lower end of the pay scale images/icons/smile.gif)

In the Netherlands:
1.000.000 = million
1.000.000.000 = milliard
1.000.000.000.000 = billion

when I was in french class, I learned that it goes milliion, milliard, and billion like ArnoutV says it is in tghe Netherlands

So when you hear that Bill Gates is a "Billionaire", does it seem confusing? Or is it translated to "Milliardaire"?

The true english meaning IS a million million, but I have come to know it more commonly as a thousand million. As for a trillion, I know it exists, but havent a clue about what the proper value is, either in the US or the UK. And when people want to describe a really really large number they will just use the word 'zillion'.

In Germany, and I think in most continental European countries, the order is as follows:

1 million = 1.000.000
1 milliard = 1.000.000.000
1 billion = 1.000.000.000.000
1 billiard = 1.000.000.000.000.000
1 trillion = 1.000.000.000.000.000.000
1 trilliard = 1.000.000.000.000.000.000.000
quartrillion, quartrilliard, quintillion, quintilliard, sextillion, sextilliard....

A million is a thousand thousand.
A billion is million million.

I've never heard of this "Milliard" stuff, but it sounds like a good idea so ppl dont get mixed between a thousand million (a thousand million) and a billion (a million million).

Of course... then theres always a gazillion. How many billions is that? images/icons/wink.gif

Simple.

Chief

man what would i do to count the "0" in my bank account....!

hmm, isnt Billiard another name for Pool ??

No, although there is a similar game by that name. You have just three balls, white, spot white and black. The idea is that you score points for various combinations of strikes and pots. You have to reach a certain score to win.
E.g.:
potting your opponents cue ball is 1 point.
putting your own ball down off you opponents is two.
a cannon is 2 as well.

Don't quote me on these, its been a long time since I played. Its a lot more tactical than snooker or pool because of the small number of balls; there's very places to hide.

I'm sorry but billiard and milliard are words that are derived from French or maybe Latin.
If in Europe you say a billion is a million millions then what is 1,000,000,000 refered to as??

The standard in North Amercia (finally Canada agrees on something)
million = 1,000,000
billion = 1,000,000,000
trillion = 1,000,000,000,000
zillion = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000 in cartoons

1,000,000,000 is referred to (at least in my head) as a thousand million.

Chief

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In Germany, and I think in most continental European countries, the order is as follows:

1 million = 1.000.000
1 milliard = 1.000.000.000
1 billion = 1.000.000.000.000
1 billiard = 1.000.000.000.000.000
1 trillion = 1.000.000.000.000.000.000
1 trilliard = 1.000.000.000.000.000.000.000
quartrillion, quartrilliard, quintillion, quintilliard, sextillion, sextilliard....


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I agree with Chief. 1,000,000,000 is a thousand million in the UK.