# What comes after a trillion? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 14, 2012, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001 "2012-12-14T04:42:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/21 "2012-12-14T19:57:23Z")
“…What comes after a trillion?..” A cigarette? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/22 "2012-12-14T20:22:03Z")
There’s really only 5 numbers. None One Few Many Lots ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/23 "2012-12-14T20:27:44Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > There’s really only 5 numbers. > > None > > One > > Few > > Many > > Lots Most numbers are equal to one, if you’re perspicacious enough to choose your system of units correctly. (Besides, it’s just a constant factor.) ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/24 "2012-12-14T20:28:28Z")
[Ten crore crore](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Asian_numbering_system). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/25 "2012-12-14T21:21:28Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Or a stick of gum, whichever is worth more. When I was in the Congo (then Zaire) near the end of Mobutu’s rule, I paid a million zaires for a bottle of beer. This was worth about a dollar US. (I still have a couple of million-zaire notes.) My first rule of economics: If you have to be a millionaire to buy a bottle of beer, your country is fucked. Looks like you might have to be a quadrillionaire to buy a beer in Zimbabwe. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/26 "2012-12-14T21:50:33Z")
Sadly, for those of us who enjoy hiliariously large denominations of currency if not for the Zimbabweans, it looks like they have reset the currency. [XE.com](http://XE.com) reports a current exchange rate of 361 ZWD to 1 USD. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/27 "2012-12-14T21:50:37Z")
What comes after a trillion… a trillion and one. D’uh ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/28 "2012-12-14T22:08:57Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > Sadly, for those of us who enjoy hiliariously large denominations of currency if not for the Zimbabweans, it looks like they have reset the currency. [XE.com](http://XE.com) reports a current exchange rate of 361 ZWD to 1 USD. So that means the OP is a trillionaire even in US dollars ($2.77 trillion). Of course, those bills are probably invalidated by the currency change (but how do they make sure that nobody tries to use one to buy something, or use the correct conversion factor to the new money, and they probably have to ensure they are still valid so people don’t end up with useless bills, until some time has passed)? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/29 "2012-12-14T22:50:34Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > how do they make sure that nobody tries to use one to buy something, or use the correct conversion factor to the new money, and they probably have to ensure they are still valid so people don’t end up with useless bills, until some time has passed By printing up new currency that doesn’t look like the old currency. The old currency can continue to circulate at the old value for as long as people still have it, assuming they can find someone willing to take their old trillions and such, but it won’t be confused for the more valuable new currency as long as the new currency looks different. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/30 "2012-12-14T23:05:19Z")
The thing to do in the past (Turkey, Argentina, Romania) was to just chop of some zeroes (6, 13, and 5, respectively) and call it a new currency. But AFAIK, Zimbabwe just gave up and everyone uses US dollars, South African rand, etc. It was fun watching my liras ($1 million bill?) go from 60 cents to 12 cents to a fraction of a cent. ---
**Author:** ![tonyfop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@tonyfop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonyfop)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/31 "2012-12-14T23:06:32Z")
I found a good explanation of what happened to devalue their currency here: [http://www.forextraders.com/forex-analysis/forex-fundamental-analysis/currency-devaluation-examples.html](http://www.forextraders.com/forex-analysis/forex-fundamental-analysis/currency-devaluation-examples.html) Basically, they chopped 13 zeros off the currency, and set $1 = $Z6000. The way I calculate it, what you have there was worht approx. $0.016 in 2008. Since the current rate is $1 = $Z342, they must have devalued it again (or somehow they reigned in the inflation and caused deflation… ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/32 "2012-12-15T00:00:55Z")
I thought they weren’t using the Zimbabwean dollar anymore, just currency of other countries. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/33 "2012-12-15T03:31:10Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I thought they weren’t using the Zimbabwean dollar anymore, just currency of other countries. Curious. Wikipedia agrees with you, so I’m not sure what’s up with the XE exchange rate. ---
**Author:** ![AndyLee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@AndyLee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyLee)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/34 "2012-12-15T15:10:34Z")
What comes after a trillion The tax collector. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/35 "2012-12-15T16:58:50Z")
It’s either a Buffetillion or a Kochillion. I’m never sure. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/36 "2012-12-15T19:38:05Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > [QUOTE=chacoguy] > Quadrillion. > > [But it depends.](http://www.quadrillion.com/number.shtm) I am no expert, but aren’t most people in Britain more familiar with the “American” (short) scale for their day-to-day use? [/QUOTE] You are quite correct, and I am considering writing a stiff email to the people in **chacoguy** ’s link as part of the ongoing quest to stamp out this misconception. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/37 "2012-12-17T17:57:04Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > I’m guessing that countries with inflation levels in the trillions don’t have too many residents who use electronic payments. Yet. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/38 "2012-12-17T18:06:44Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > Hey, do you want to trade a Zim $50 bill for a 100 Trillion dollar bill? When I was in Zimbabwe in 2002 the exchange rate was $400 Zim to one US dollar. At the end of the week it was $600 Zim to one US dollar. > > I think I actually have a Zim penny lying around here somewhere! I was there the year before. IIRC even then they were using Z$1 coins as tokens in the casino at Victoria Falls. I still have a few of them lying around. Never saw a penny though. Looking at the [coins](http://www.joelscoins.com/images/zimset10.jpg) the smallest I remember seeing was a 50c. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/39 "2012-12-17T18:44:45Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > There’s really only 5 numbers. > > None > > One > > Few > > Many > > Lots Sergeant Detritus? Is that you? ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001/40 "2012-12-19T11:05:04Z")
I still remember the pictures in my high school history textbook talking about hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic, and people literally sweeping deutchmarks off the street or using them as wallpaper. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-comes-after-a-trillion/644001.md?page=3)