timo Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 You no longer touch the poteen then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 Just because our Government is up America's bottom does that mean we have to do everything they do?! I don't think the government have passed legislation to stick an extra three 0's into a million??? 1*10^6, not 1*10^9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex C. Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 I don't think the government have passed legislation to stick an extra three 0's into a million??? 1*10^6, not 1*10^9 And being that this came about via international commerce and finance (globalisation), I'm not quite sure what the modern day labour goverment have to do with it... given that its been accepted as the financial definition for 50 or so years... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brooksy Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 So how much is bill gates worth then, bet hes well confused??? :hihi: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crayfish Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 1 Billion = 10 to the 9th power, I thought that was fairly commonly accepted now but there may be exceptions (e.g. someone mentioned astronomers) that I don't know about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy78 Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 As people have pointed out, the old British billion 1*10^12 was just mathematically wrong. The units increase in powers of 10^3 IE. Killo = 1*10^3 = 1000 (one thousdand) Mega= 1*10^6 = 1000,000 (one million) Giga = 1*10^9 = 1000,000,000 (one billion) Tera = 1*10^12=1000,000,000,000 (one trillion) See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgksheff Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 As people have pointed out, the old British billion 1*10^12 was just mathematically wrong. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billion This is a classic example of the limitations of Wikipedia and peoples' use of it. The page to which Andy78 has linked starts: "The word "billion" and its equivalents in other languages refer to one of two different numbers, depending on whether the writer is using the long or short scale. .... and goes on to refer to the difference between the 1,000,000,000,000 and the 1,000,000,000! "The original meaning, established in the 15th century, was "a million of a million" " There is no "right or wrong". There is the original use and a different use (which is becoming more generally accepted). Wikipedia is far from being a definitive text and, if it is critical, one should always ask a person what they mean by a "billion"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 one ten one hundred those don't seem to follow your power of 3 rule very closely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy78 Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 Firstly, I was incorrect in saying that it was wrong. It is just more widely accepted that 1*10^9 fits in with the power of three increments. When I refer to the power of three increments, I am by no way suggesting that this is the way that all numbers increase because that would just be silly. However, the SI system groups the increases into a well recognised format of kilo, mega, giga, tera etc. All increasing by a power of three each time. Or reducing in the case of milli, micro, nano, pico etc. Perhaps citing this as a rule was inaccurate. More of a useful, recognised format. cgksheff, I didn't get my information from Wiki. I just used it as a backup. I am going by the information I have been taught over many years by many mathematicians. I accept that there are different aspects of a billion, but I am simply pointing out the most accepted format. I'm sorry if this annoys you. Incidentally, there are still people that believe the world is flat. I cannot prove them wrong, just point them towards some information that I believe to be true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 At a guess though the SI units came into use after the terms hundred, thousand, million and billion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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