British million

[porkchop]

Is there a difference in how the British and Americans define a million????

[Crusoe]

I doubt it. A British million is 1,000,000. Is it different over there?

[Cabbage]

I think you're thinking of billion. In the US, the names go million, billion, trillion. In the UK it goes million, milliard, billion (=US trillion). I think "milliard" is being phased out, though.

[Crusoe]

Er...I've never, ever heard of "milliard", and never heard or seen it used over here in my lifetime. In everyday usage in the UK it goes million, billion too, although there are some variations in defining a British billion (I have no idea what most people think now).

[maralinn]

Look up billion in any decent dictionary and it'll tell you that in America, it's 1,000,000,000 (10 to the 9th) and in Britain it's 1,000,000,000,000 (10 to the 12th).

[Cabbage]

Hmmm...Americans seem to think that Brits do use the term "milliard".

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Milliard.html

Maybe the use of the word was phased out many years ago?

[Crusoe]

Aye, you might well be right. I've not heard the word in twenty-five years, so maybe it's just one of those cultural misunderstandings ("What, not all American men over forty are called Elmer? Really?").

[glee]

I've not heard of milliard in 45 years (i.e. ever).

I love that new US film 'It's a wonderful life'...

[friedo]

this page (http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/large.html) explains a lot of the confusion. To my knowledge, the brits have phased out the -iard numbers in favor of the more universal standard.

[Celyn]

The non-dfference between U.S./U.K. millionhas been dealt with, I realise. But my excuse for butting in is the lovely bit in (I think) Friedo's) suggested link.

Quoting:

Both systems have their good and bad features. The European system is certainly more logical;
in that system a billion is a million million, a trillion is a million million million, and so on. The
American system seems more practical in that it provides shorter names for quantities actually
used in real life: a "billion dollars" as opposed to a "thousand million dollars."


End Quote

O woe is me. Would that it were MY real life.

[porkchop]

Maralinn was correct. I was thinking of million, but should have said billion. There is a definitional difference in the American billion and the British billion. Thanks for the help!