cgksheff 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. You maybe correct. The Systeme International was formally established in 1960. The French were always a little bit slow in these matters! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy78 Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 Yes, you are both right. That's not really the point though is it? We are discussing what is accepted as a billion. Which we all agree on, so why the hell are you being so pedantic about details? I'm sorry if I'm offending you with my discussion of SI units. If you don't agree with them, then start another thread about it. In my defence, I am simply discussing the units that I use as an engineer. I am not saying that they are right or wrong. Just accepted. FFS we could go on to disprove every aspect of science and maths if we wanted to. If you have issues with the system then I am not the person to take it out on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 No issues with the sytem, I just don't think that it proves anything or adds anything to the billions issue. It's a recent system introduced centuries after the word in question. If you were using SI units then there's no possibility for confusion, but you probably wouldn't ever be saying billion in conjunction with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phanerothyme Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 I would have thought most astronomers use SI prefixes to avoid confusion. 1 zettasecond ~= 31 trillion years (3.1e13) 10 petameters ~= 1 light year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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