If you are British, on the other hand, a billion may be 1,000,000,000,000 (a million million), following the older convention. ... In the 'British' system, it would also possible to use 'billiard' for 'thousand billion', 'trilliard' for 'thousand trillion', etc., but this has not so far caught on.
www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/billion?... www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/billion?view=uk
The British billion is 1000,000,000 as elsewhere. The 'old' billion was 1000,000,000,000; this is now the trillion. For global communication uniformity is essential. This has been demonstrated by the loss of time and hardware in space when metric units were misinterpreted as 'imperial'.
www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-61424,... www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-61424,00.html
Life & style ... What happened to the British billion? When did 100,000,000 become accepted as a billion over here? And where does this leave the trillion?; Name: Home town: Country: Email: Your answer:
www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/ask/0,5753,-61424,00... www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/ask/0,5753,-61424,00.html
Long and short scales - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The long and short scales are two of several different large number naming systems used throughout the world: It refers to a system of large number names in which every new term greater than million...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales
A new report reveals that the British throw out billions of dollars worth of food--here's how we can avoid a similar fate. ... A new report has just revealed that the British toss out $20 billion worth of food each year. Try to imagine $20 billion worth of food--just try it. Picture the half-eaten sandwiches,
planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/british-throw-foo... planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/british-throw-food-year.html
3 more zero's than an American billion, is a British billion ... More completely, it was once the case that when a Britisher used the term "Billion" it meant 10^12, or a million million. If one wanted to talk about 10^9 then one used the term "thousand million", or, in some cases, "milliard".
c2.com/cgi/wiki?BritishBillion c2.com/cgi/wiki?BritishBillion
The British Government took this advice in 1974, when Prime Minister Harold Wilson announced to the House of Commons that the meaning of "billion" in papers concerning Government statistics would thenceforth be 10^9, in conformity with U.S. usage.
alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxbill00.html
A conventional British billion is a thousand times bigger than an American billion. Thirty-two thousand years to reach "one (British) billion", counting at one number per second. ... You get the idea: a billion is such a large number it does not matter which definition you use, American or British. Either way,
www.wonderquest.com/Billions.htm www.wonderquest.com/Billions.htm
LONDON, June 7 -- Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a member of Saudi Arabia's royal family and the kingdom's former ambassador to the United States, pocketed about $2 billion in secret payments as part of an $80 billion arms deal between Britain and Saudi Arabia that was first signed in 1985, British media reported Thursday.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/0... www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/07/AR2007060701301.html
With the US dominating Science and Business, especially in the English speaking world, a different British billion was always going to have a rough time. To me, a billion just means "a lot". But that's just me - I'm stupid.
www.antimoon.com/forum/2003/3138.htm