names for large numbers
B. Brown
In the United States, 10^9 is 1 billion. I'm told that in many (most?)
other countries, 10^12 is a billion. What do the terms trillion,
quadrillion, ... mean in various cultures? Is there a "correct" meaning
for these terms even within the US? Are there internationally (and
inter-linguistically?) standard names for large numbers greater than 10^6?
Presumably, a googol is 10^100 everywhere that it is anything. :-)
(Incidentally, there is an article by Richard Crandall on truly large
numbers, the history of our familiarity with them, the the search for
large primes, in the Feb 97 Scientific American.)
Bennett Brown
7-12 math teacher, Lone Tree Community School, Iowa.
Jeff560
bjb...@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu (B. Brown) wrote:
>In the United States, 10^9 is 1 billion. I'm told that in many (most?)
>other countries, 10^12 is a billion. What do the terms trillion,
>quadrillion, ... mean in various cultures? Is there a "correct" meaning
>for these terms even within the US? Are there internationally (and
>inter-linguistically?) standard names for large numbers greater than
10^6?
Following is essentially the list of the names for large numbers as
given in the entry "number" in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate
Dictionary, Tenth Edition.
However, the dictionary table does not include the "-iard" names
except for "milliard," which is included. (That is, the dictionary
table does not provide names for those numbers in the British system.)
The "-iard" words were taken from an FAQ appearing on the Internet.
An Internet FAQ calls the British system the European system and says
the European system is used in Austria, Belgium, Chile, Germany, the
Netherlands, Italy, and Scandinavia. According to the dictionary
article, France previously used a system similar to the American
system, but France subsequently switched to the European system.
Names for 10^n (please use a monospaced font!)
n American British
6 million million
9 billion milliard
12 trillion billion
15 quadrillion billiard
18 quintillion trillion
21 sextillion trilliard
24 septillion quadrillion
27 octillion quadrilliard
30 nonillion quintillion
33 decillion quintilliard
36 undecillion sextillion
39 duodecillion sextilliard
42 tredecillion septillion
45 quattuordecillion septilliard
48 quindecillion octillion
51 sexdecillion octilliard
54 septendecillion nonillion
57 octodecillion nonilliard
60 novemdecillion decillion
63 vigintillion decilliard
66 undecillion
72 duodecillion
78 tredecillion
84 quattuordecillion
90 quindecillion
96 sexdecillion
102 septendecillion
108 octodecillion
114 novemdecillion
120 vigintillion
303 centillion
600 centillion
Jeff Miller
Gulf High School
New Port Richey, FL
Pinky Susan George
In article <19970123011...@ladder01.news.aol.com>
bartk...@aol.com "Bartkovsky" writes:
> Interesting--Today I taught Avogadro's number and the kids asked what
> 10^23 was. Why are there only names for every power of 3.
The "N-illion" notation - the number with (3N+3) zeros - can give name
for every power of 3 only. eg N=5 giges 10^18 as Quadrillion...
However, using **Rudy Rucker's "N-plex" notation , there can be a name for
any power of 10. Using this notation 10^100 called "googol" will become
'hectoplex'. 10^1000 will be 'kiloplex' and 10^23 is just 23-plex!
**MIND TOOLS (ISBN 0-14-014681-4) by Rudy Rucker.
-Pinky
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http://www.geocities.com/Paris/1011/mathcal.html
Pinky Susan George
Bartkovsky wrote:
>
> Interesting--Today I taught Avogadro's number and the kids asked what
> 10^23 was. Why are there only names for every power of 3.
The "N-illion" notation - the number with (3N+3) zeros - can give name
for every power of 3 only. eg N = 4 giges 10^15 as Quadrillion...
However, using **Rudy Rucker's "N-plex" notation , there can be a name
for
any power of 10. Using this notation 10^100 called "googol" will become
'hectoplex'. 10^1000 will be 'kiloplex' and 10^23 is just 23-plex!
**MIND TOOLS (ISBN 0-14-014681-4) by Rudy Rucker.
-Pinky
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http://members.tripod.com/~pinky