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  3. How many zeroes in a billion?

How many zeroes in a billion?

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  • Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter

    I would say 9. What say you?

    "The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012

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    Nelek
    wrote on last edited by
    #16

    In Spain and Germany (and AFAIK another countries in the EU) one billion are 12 zeros

    M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

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    • J Jorgen Andersson

      Long count is more logical. Add six zeroes for every step in size Million - 1 000 000 Billion - 1 000 000 000 000 Trillion - 1 000 000 000 000 000 000

      Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello

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      Nelek
      wrote on last edited by
      #17

      I had actually thought that the metric was squaring them... Million = A thousand times thousand Billion = A million times a million Trillion = A billion times a billion ;P :laugh:

      M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

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      • Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter

        I would say 9. What say you?

        "The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012

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        Slacker007
        wrote on last edited by
        #18

        Why Make Trillions When We Can Make Billions? - YouTube[^] marker 3:45 :laugh:

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        • M Mircea Neacsu

          Quote:

          Add six zeroes for every step in size

          Argument against: other scales change prefix every three zeros (kilo, mega, giga, etc.) Another argument for: "bi" - twice as many, hence 12, "tri" three times as many, hence 18 You can choose one side but it's hard to argue that's more "logical".

          Mircea

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          Nelek
          wrote on last edited by
          #19

          Mircea Neacsu wrote:

          Another argument for: "bi" - twice as many, hence 12, "tri" three times as many, hence 18

          Quad = 4 times as many... Quadrillion = 10^24 Having 12 zeros for a billion is more consistent with the posterior numbers than having 9 zeros.

          M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

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          • N Nelek

            I had actually thought that the metric was squaring them... Million = A thousand times thousand Billion = A million times a million Trillion = A billion times a billion ;P :laugh:

            M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

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            ElectronProgrammer
            wrote on last edited by
            #20

            No. Not squaring. Raising to the power. Billion=Bi million=million^2=10^12 zeros total Trillion=Tri million=million^3=10^18 zeros total Quadrillion=Quad million=million^4=10^24 zeros total ...(and so on) You can think of it more easily using geometry. Assuming that your geometric shapes have all sides identical, and one side corresponds to one million (which is your base unit and has six zeros), a: triangle=tri angle=three times the side=10^18 zeros total quadrangle=quad angle=four times the side=10^24 zeros total ...(and so on) I don't mention a "biangle" because that does not exist :P

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            • M Mircea Neacsu

              Quote:

              Add six zeroes for every step in size

              Argument against: other scales change prefix every three zeros (kilo, mega, giga, etc.) Another argument for: "bi" - twice as many, hence 12, "tri" three times as many, hence 18 You can choose one side but it's hard to argue that's more "logical".

              Mircea

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              PIEBALDconsult
              wrote on last edited by
              #21

              No, not adding six. Either add three (short count) or double (long count).

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              • Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter

                I would say 9. What say you?

                "The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012

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                V 0
                wrote on last edited by
                #22

                9 10 so 1 can suffice

                V.

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                • D Daniel Pfeffer

                  Yes, the British Government has used 1 billion == 1,000,000,000 since 1974. It's been at least that long since I last read (or believed) any statistics released by the British Government. :)

                  Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.

                  Richard DeemingR Offline
                  Richard DeemingR Offline
                  Richard Deeming
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #23

                  Our government has also reported figures in terms of "billions", and then been unable to clarify which definition they were using. :doh: :laugh:


                  "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

                  "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined" - Homer

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                  • D Daniel Pfeffer

                    Yes, the British Government has used 1 billion == 1,000,000,000 since 1974. It's been at least that long since I last read (or believed) any statistics released by the British Government. :)

                    Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.

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                    jsc42
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #24

                    The British 10^9 billion is used for financial values (esp. by the Government); the British 10^12 billion is still more common outside of finance. The advice is never use the word Billion, use 10^9 / 10^12; or, when talking to 'ordinary' people use thousand million / million million. Same for Trillions etc. The generic 'gazillion' can be used without clarification as it just means an extraordinarily large amount.

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                    • M Marc Clifton

                      1 zero. 1 billion == 1 gigabyte == 1,073,741,824 bytes ;) At least, that's how I count nowadays. :laugh:

                      Latest Articles:
                      Client-Side Type-Based Publisher/Subscriber, Exploring Synchronous, "Event-ed", and Worker Thread Subscriptions

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                      Daniel Pfeffer
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #25

                      IOW, a "billion" has 11110 zeroes

                      Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.

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                      • S Slacker007

                        "billion" has no zeros. Zero zeros. :-D

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                        Wizard of Sleeves
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #26

                        I don't know, let me look at my bank account.

                        Nothing succeeds like a budgie without teeth.

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                        • E ElectronProgrammer

                          No. Not squaring. Raising to the power. Billion=Bi million=million^2=10^12 zeros total Trillion=Tri million=million^3=10^18 zeros total Quadrillion=Quad million=million^4=10^24 zeros total ...(and so on) You can think of it more easily using geometry. Assuming that your geometric shapes have all sides identical, and one side corresponds to one million (which is your base unit and has six zeros), a: triangle=tri angle=three times the side=10^18 zeros total quadrangle=quad angle=four times the side=10^24 zeros total ...(and so on) I don't mention a "biangle" because that does not exist :P

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                          Nelek
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #27

                          ElectronProgrammer wrote:

                          No. Not squaring. Raising to the power.

                          You did notize the joke icon, didn't you? ;P

                          M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

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                          • Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter

                            I would say 9. What say you?

                            "The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012

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                            maze3
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #28

                            17 zeros 111011100110101100101000000000

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                            • Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter

                              I would say 9. What say you?

                              "The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012

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                              Fueled By Decaff
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #29

                              Nan 1 billion / 0 = NaN

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                              • Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter

                                I would say 9. What say you?

                                "The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012

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                                Kiriander
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #30

                                Exactly one, as in 10^x. Or none with Ex.

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                                • Richard DeemingR Richard Deeming

                                  Our government has also reported figures in terms of "billions", and then been unable to clarify which definition they were using. :doh: :laugh:


                                  "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

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                                  musefan
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #31

                                  That's because our government is really intelligent. Though I am unable to confirm which definition of intelligent I am using.

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                                  • Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter

                                    I would say 9. What say you?

                                    "The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012

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                                    Chris Losinger
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #32

                                    that's not a zero, it's a lowercase 'O'

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                                    • Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter

                                      I would say 9. What say you?

                                      "The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012

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                                      W Offline
                                      W Balboos GHB
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #33

                                      Browsing through the answers I still think 9 is the best solution. Just a couple of Why: 1 - jives with scientific incrementation of values: every three orders of magnitude. 2 - much easier to say "billion" vs "thousand million", for example This isn't about taking sides for national pride - it's about very consistent usage across multiple domains of information. I live in a Fahrenheit country but water boils at 100C to me (for example). If you like these other forms, then why not remain consistent and write 1000,000000 instead of 1,000,000,000 (commas or dots as you prefer) ? There are always alternatives and fans for them, nationalistic and otherwise, but the three-per-block is more sensible.

                                      Ravings en masse^

                                      "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

                                      "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010

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                                      • Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter

                                        I would say 9. What say you?

                                        "The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012

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                                        G Offline
                                        Gary Wheeler
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #34

                                        Use __int64 and don't care.

                                        Software Zen: delete this;

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                                        • D Daniel Pfeffer

                                          It depends. The British billion is a million millions, so there are 12 zeroes. The American billion is a thousand millions, so there are 9 zeroes. These days, the American billion is more commonly used than the British billion.

                                          Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.

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                                          jochance
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #35

                                          No kilomillion? The simple answer has been hanging around right under their noses this whole time.

                                          J 1 Reply Last reply
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