# A billion $$ how much is it really? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 28, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760 "2010-01-28T14:48:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/21 "2010-01-28T17:57:56Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > To give you an idea how how much $10 trillion national debt is, if there were one guy in the United States, he would owe $10 trillion. Or, put in other words, Ten trillion guys would each owe one dollar. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/22 "2010-01-28T18:17:11Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > You mean trillion. > > I made a similar mistake in my post that I fortunately found before posting. These word number threads drive you crazy. Yeah, of course. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/23 "2010-01-28T19:30:44Z")
Maybe you should googol it. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/24 "2010-01-28T19:42:46Z")
Here’s an example I use in a computer class I teach to help people get their minds around really big numbers: Start with 1 second. 1,000 seconds is about 16-2/3 minutes. 1,000,000 seconds is about 11-1/2 days. 1,000,000,000 seconds is about 32 years. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/25 "2010-01-28T20:06:53Z")
> [@NicePete](#): > > Maybe you should googol it. That would be “ten duotrigintillion”. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/26 "2010-01-28T20:51:56Z")
Another way of looking at how much a billion dollars is. A billion dollars in $100 bills would weigh about eleven tons. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/27 "2010-01-28T22:21:03Z")
or ten long tons. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/28 "2010-01-28T22:28:27Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > or ten long tons. Or 10,000 kg. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/29 "2010-01-28T22:30:56Z")
Using the American system, here’s how it works 1: **one** 10: **ten** 100: one **hundred** 1,000: one **thousand** 10,000: ten thousand 100,000: one hundred thousand 1,000,000: one **million** 10,000,000: ten million 100,000,000: one hundred million 1,000,000,000: one **billion** And so on and so forth. Pulling prefixes out of my ass, I’m pretty sure the next factors of 1,000 are: trillion, quadrillion, quintillion, sextillion, septillion, octillion, and nonillion. A one with a hundred zeroes after it is, as has been referenced in this thread, a googol. ---
**Author:** ![Uncertain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Uncertain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncertain)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/30 "2010-01-29T04:24:45Z")
I have yet to see “quintillion”, “sextillion”, etc. outside of lists of such names (I may have seen “quadrillion” a few times; I’m not sure). People use 10^18 and the like. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/31 "2010-01-29T04:36:25Z")
> [@Uncertain](#): > > I have yet to see “quintillion”, “sextillion”, etc. outside of lists of such names (I may have seen “quadrillion” a few times; I’m not sure). People use 10^18 and the like. [Here’s one from the news yesterday](http://www.kansas.com/news/tiller/story/1154724.html): > [@](#): > > Steadman also performed a statistical probability of the DNA randomly matching someone other than Tiller and found that probability to be 1 in 2.77 quintillion, she said. [And another one from the news.](http://www.timesherald.com/articles/2010/01/23/news/doc4b5a72acd0544879193310.txt) > [@](#): > > Brolley, questioned by Assistant District Attorney Todd Stephens, testified the likelihood of that DNA profile appearing in the African-American population is 1 in 790 sextillion. In comparison, Brolley, said the population of the U.S. is 370 million. Seems like it’s used a lot in cases involving DNA. ---
**Author:** ![Uncertain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Uncertain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncertain)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/32 "2010-01-29T05:09:38Z")
Thanks a lot; now I can’t say I’ve never seen it. As it happens, I’m a biologist who deals with DNA and such. None of my colleagues use such terms. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/33 "2010-01-29T05:46:57Z")
> [@Uncertain](#): > > Thanks a lot; now I can’t say I’ve never seen it. > > As it happens, I’m a biologist who deals with DNA and such. None of my colleagues use such terms. I imagine they would if they were on the stand, though. 😉 “1 in 2.7 x 10^18” just doesn’t quite translate as well to juries, I’d imagine. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/34 "2010-01-29T12:57:24Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > The British have been moving towards a billion meaning a thousand million for a while now, because of the US influence, and because it’s easier to say “a billion” than “a thousand million”. I’d say we’re not just moving towards it, we’ve reached it. As far as I know all the mainstream British media use “billion” to mean “a thousand million”. Edit: I’m sad to note that I missed out on marking my 1 billion second birthday. (31 years, 8 months, 8 days and about an hour and three quarters, it seems, although that obviously depends on how the months pan out exactly) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/35 "2010-01-29T13:09:31Z")
Wait so what are a zillion and a bazillion? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/36 "2010-01-29T15:17:42Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Wait so what are a zillion and a bazillion? If you multiply them together you get a zillion bazillion. So if you divide by one you get the other. Isn’t math pretty? ---
**Author:** ![nudgenudge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9f8e36/32.png) [@nudgenudge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nudgenudge)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/37 "2010-01-29T16:07:38Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I’m sad to note that I missed out on marking my 1 billion second birthday. (31 years, 8 months, 8 days and about an hour and three quarters, it seems, although that obviously depends on how the months pan out exactly) I find it pleasing that one billion seconds is a bit over 31.5 years, while one year is a bit over 31.5 million seconds. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/38 "2010-01-29T17:27:16Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > The British have been moving towards a billion meaning a thousand million for a while now, because of the US influence, and because it’s easier to say “a billion” than “a thousand million”. “Milliard” ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/39 "2010-01-29T19:36:26Z")
**An Gadaí** said: > [@](#): > > Wait so what are a zillion and a bazillion? Those are fanciful terms used to indicate “a lot”. They have no actual specific amount. Bazillion is taken to mean more than zillion, because you added a prefix. I speculate that bazillion is a morphing of zillion to include the “b” sound you get with billion. But it could be that zillion is a shortened corruption of bazillion. Whatever, they’re fictional anyway, so it hardly matters. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760/40 "2010-01-29T19:37:59Z")
\*\*blindboyard \*\* said: > [@](#): > > “Milliard” “That’s just goofy!” Clearly, the proper ending for really large numbers is “illion” and not “illiard”. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-billion-how-much-is-it-really/526760.md?page=3)