Billion

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For other uses, see Billion (disambiguation).
A billion is a number with two distinct definitions:

1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or 109 (ten to the ninth power), as defined
on the short scale. This is now generally the meaning in both British and American
English.[1][2]
1,000,000,000,000, i.e. one million million, or 1012 (ten to the twelfth power), as
defined on the long scale. This is one thousand times larger than the short scale
billion, and equivalent to the short scale trillion.

American English always uses the short scale definition but British English has employed
both versions. Historically, the United Kingdom used the long scale billion but since 1974
official UK statistics have used the short scale. Since the 1950s the short scale has been
increasingly used in technical writing and journalism, although the long scale definition
still enjoys common usage.[3]
Other countries use the word billion (or words cognate to it) to denote either the long scale
or short scale billion. For details, see Long and short scales Current usage.
Another word for one thousand million is milliard, but this is used much less often in
English than billion. Some languages, such as French or German, use milliard (or a related
word) for the short scale billion, and billion (or a related word) for the long scale billion.
Thus the French or German billion is a thousand times larger than the modern English
billion.

History[edit]
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word billion was formed in the 16th
century (from million and the prefix bi-, "two"), meaning the second power of a million
(1012). This long scale definition was similarly applied to trillion, quadrillion and so on. The
words were originally French, and entered English around the end of the 17th century.
Later, French arithmeticians changed the words' meanings, adopting the short scale
definition whereby three zeros rather than six were added at each step, so a billion came to
denote a thousand million (109), a trillion 1012, and so on. This new convention was adopted
in the United States in the 19th century, but Britain retained the original long scale use.
France, in turn, reverted to the long scale in 1948.[4]
In Britain, however, under the influence of American usage, the short scale came to be
increasingly used. In 1974, Prime Minister Harold Wilson confirmed that the government
would use the word billion only in its short scale meaning (one thousand million). In a
written answer to Robin Maxwell-Hyslop MP, who asked whether official usage would

conform to the traditional British meaning of a million million, Wilson stated: "No. The
word 'billion' is now used internationally to mean 1,000 million and it would be confusing
if British Ministers were to use it in any other sense. I accept that it could still be
interpreted in this country as 1 million million and I shall ask my colleagues to ensure that,
if they do use it, there should be no ambiguity as to its meaning."[3]

See also[edit]
Look up billion in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Names of large numbers

References[edit]
1.
2.

Jump up ^ "How many is a billion?". oxforddictionaries.com.

Jump up ^ Dent, Susie (28 October 2011). "How billions and trillions changed".
BBC News. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
3.
^ Jump up to: a b Cracknell, Richard; Bolton, Paul (January 2009). Statistical
literacy guide: What is a billion? And other units (PDF) (Report). House of Commons
Library. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
4.
Jump up ^ OED (1989) entry for "billion".

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