Job Discussion Forums

[BenJ]

had this question come up in class and thinking about it, realise I don:t know - maybe someone can help.

UK/Aussie English - 1 billion is a million million
USA English - 1 billion is a thousand million

(correct so far?)

If this is the case, when talking about world population, which one do we use?
World population - 5 to 6 billion ...

[lajzar]

The billions referred to there are thousand millions in real terms.

I have a page on my web site which converts numbers to text. handles up to 33 digits or so, if any of your students are geeky enough to want that many.

www.lajzar.co.uk/en/suuji.html

[markosonlines]

I'm an Aussie and have always considered a billion to be a thousand million. A trillion is a million million.

1 m(ono) 1,000,000
2 bi 1,000,000,000
3 tri 1,000,000,000,000

This makes the population 5-6 billion.

GO THA F...KIN' WALLABIES!!!

[lajzar]

Dang, my claculator is brokwen.

[BenJ]

thanks lazjar

Distinctly remember reading about the differences in numbering somewhere and as Australia follows British English...

[lajzar]

I fixed my calculator. It should work fine now.