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choonland
Advanced Member
Colombia
1,100 posts
Joined: Dec, 2007
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 Posted - 2009/05/08 : 20:33:01
a billion in spanish is "a million of millions" that is: 1.000.000.000.000
but in USA when they say billion they refer to "a thousand millions" - 1.000.000.000
does this happen in other countries, or its only in the states?
and why is that???
a billion=1.000.000.000 makes no sense at all
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Charco
Advanced Member
Ireland
1,979 posts
Joined: Nov, 2001
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Posted - 2009/05/08 : 20:40:56
quote:
Originally posted by Naturatech:
a billion in spanish is "a million of millions" that is: 1.000.000.000.000
but in USA when they say billion they refer to "a thousand millions" - 1.000.000.000
does this happen in other countries, or its only in the states?
and why is that???
a billion=1.000.000.000 makes no sense at all
I've got no idea why it's like that- confusing. So no point in me posting really only to say that I wouldn't mind being a billionaire no matter the difference between the two. Though that much money could cause more problems than what it's worth so I retract my statement.
I'm in one of those moods....yeehaaaaarrrrrr
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Wilky
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United Kingdom
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Posted - 2009/05/08 : 21:37:05
i wouldnt mind a billion ££££s too... 2nights euro millions would be very nice £110 million
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The Doc
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
2,718 posts
Joined: Jan, 2006
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Posted - 2009/05/08 : 23:07:49
quote:
Originally posted by Wilky:
i wouldnt mind a billion ££££s too... 2nights euro millions would be very nice £110 million
I'm spending it already! 
anyway perhaps it has to do with their pesetas! When they had them it was around 250 to the pound! (they were the days on holiday)
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choonland
Advanced Member
Colombia
1,100 posts
Joined: Dec, 2007
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Posted - 2009/05/09 : 01:19:10
quote:
Originally posted by The Doc:
anyway perhaps it has to do with their pesetas! When they had them it was around 250 to the pound! (they were the days on holiday)
no, its not a matter of currency conversion, its a matter of concept misunderstanding
its like if you thought in a cat and say "dog"
so in USA they are thinking in 1.000.000.000 but are saying 1.000.000.000.000 
I dont know if its the same in the UK but I always hear it in CNN ands news channels when they are talking about numbers and statistics
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Edited by - choonland on 2009/05/09 01:23:59 |
TheOneNOnly
Advanced Member
United States
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Joined: Oct, 2008
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Posted - 2009/05/09 : 01:55:30
We're really bad at counting?
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choonland
Advanced Member
Colombia
1,100 posts
Joined: Dec, 2007
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Posted - 2009/05/09 : 02:12:34
uhhh, I found the explanation.... you learn something everyday :)
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The long and short scales are two of the several different numerical systems used throughout the world:
Short scale is the English translation of the French term échelle courte.[1] It refers to a system of numeric names in which every new term greater than million is 1,000 times the previous term: "billion" means "a thousand millions" (109), "trillion" means "a thousand billions" (1012), and so on.
Long scale is the English translation of the French term échelle longue. It refers to a system of numeric names in which every new term greater than million is 1,000,000 times the previous term: "billion" (from bi and million) means "a million to the power of two" or "a million millions" (1012), "trillion" (from tri and million) means "a million to the power of three" or "a million billions" (1018), and so on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales
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so USA uses short scale and the rest of the world long scale
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Edited by - choonland on 2009/05/09 02:15:33 |
Brian K
Advanced Member
United States
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Joined: Sep, 2001
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Posted - 2009/05/09 : 03:40:58
err most english speaking countries use the short scale
and most of asia uses their own scale
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Lorenzo.Tweakn
Advanced Member
United States
1,327 posts
Joined: Apr, 2009
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Posted - 2009/05/09 : 03:44:06
quote:
Originally posted by Brian K:
err most english speaking countries use the short scale
and most of asia uses their own scale
i hv no idea what u meant but i read tht n rofl'd
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Revs
Advanced Member
Austria
2,584 posts
Joined: Oct, 2008
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Posted - 2009/05/09 : 10:29:28
Mliion = 1 000 000 000
Billion = 2 000 000 000
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Torpex
Advanced Member
Poland
824 posts
Joined: Nov, 2005
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Posted - 2009/05/09 : 11:00:31
quote:
Originally posted by DJ Revs:
Mliion = 1 000 000 000
Billion = 2 000 000 000
No idea if you're being serious, I hope not. ;)
This pretty much settles the issue:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billion
I don't think either side (long vs short) is wrong, but it's still pretty weird. The reason why it hasn't been unified is probably because such numbers have very little use in everyday applications.
In Poland a billion is a million millions. The word for a thousand millions is "milliard".
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Revs
Advanced Member
Austria
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Joined: Oct, 2008
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Posted - 2009/05/09 : 11:17:57
No I wasn't of course 
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latininxtc
Advanced Member
United States
7,307 posts
Joined: Feb, 2006
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Posted - 2009/05/09 : 15:48:27
i didn't like the change of a billion when i took spanish classes. if anything, i find the short scale easier and makes more sense. it's a little ecessive if you are counding in the "thousand million" form and saves time to just say billion.
anybody kno a little french here, if you do, you kno that numbers between 70-99 are a pain in the ass to say because it's doing math when saying it. to say seventy in french is
soixante-dix (60-10)
they don't have just one word for seventy they combine 60 and ten to get it. and following it they like 1,2,3 etc to make a more specific number (soixante-dix-huit; 78). saying numbers between 80-99 require a quatra-vingt (4-20) in front of them. heres the site if you want more http://french.about.com/library/begin/bl-numbers15.htm
i think short is just making it easier and shorter for the person to say and write. i certainly would prefer it and would never get used to it saying it the long way if i were to be in another country
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Revs
Advanced Member
Austria
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Posted - 2009/05/09 : 17:41:49
Yeah me, I go to a private french school actually.
They do have a word for it, septante = 70, french don't really say that but in Switzerland and Belgium they do.
However 80 ( Quattre-Vingt; Four-Twenty ) should be 60 ( 4 x 20 ) but no it's 80 .
The dumbest thing is counting in german :
Zweiundachtzig ( Zwei-und-Achtzig )
Translation : Twoandeighty ( Two-and-Eighty )
And NO again this is not 280, it's 82 !
Yeah I know it's weird
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Edited by - Revs on 2009/05/09 17:43:49 |
whispering
Moderator
Finland
8,455 posts
Joined: Nov, 2002
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Posted - 2009/05/09 : 18:01:38
quote:
Originally posted by Torpex:
In Poland a billion is a million millions. The word for a thousand millions is "milliard".
Same in Finland.
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Lilley
Advanced Member
Australia
3,740 posts
Joined: Jul, 2006
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Posted - 2009/05/10 : 12:40:21
quote:
Originally posted by DJ Revs:
However 80 ( Quattre-Vingt; Four-Twenty ) should be 60 ( 4 x 20 ) but no it's 80
oh dear...
maybe you should go and have a talk to your maths teacher.
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