From: utzoo!decvax!yale-com!brunix!gh
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Title: Re: billion
Article-I.D.: brunix.1684
Posted: Thu Feb 24 10:12:55 1983
Received: Fri Feb 25 05:19:33 1983
References: houti.215

The U.S. billion is 10^9, trillion = 10^12 etc.
British billion = 10^12, trillion = 10^18 etc
The Germans follow the British; the American system was based on the French,
but now the French have changed to follow the British, leaving the U.S. out
of steop with the rest of the world (as the usual in all matters of units
and measures).  The entry at "number" in Webster's New Collegiate gives
all this and more, including numbers up to centillion.  Also of interest
is Webster's second definition of "billion" -- "a very large number".