Brian M. Veteran Posted July 20, 2009 Veteran Share Posted July 20, 2009 I'm in the UK, and I use the same naming as neufuse pointed out a few posts up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lnmnky Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 At school in the 80s, we were originally taught: 1,000 * 1,000 = Million = 1,000,000. 1,000,000 * 1,000,000 = Trillion = 1,000,000,000,000 And it would be possible to express the grouping in between as 1,000 million. 1,000,000 * 1,000 = One thousand million = 1,000,000,000 The switch happened somewhere in the early nighties I remember when it was decided for us to adopt the US / other way of expressing such a high number. The logic with the British way is that it's possible to use the current grouping all the way up to the next highest grouping. So you could say, One hundred thousand million or 100, 000, 000, 000 Both have some element of logic, I actually prefer the British way as I was taught that way. But whatever, I never ever have to say these number out loud. I can't think of a reason I would need to... no...not ever, not in a billion years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 I don't know why each grouping cant just have its own name like we do use in america.....0 - ones 10 - tens 100 - hundreds 1 000 - thousands 10 000 - ten thousands 100 000 - hundred thousands 1 000 000 - millions 10 000 000 - ten millions 100 000 000 - hundred millions 1 000 000 000 - billions 10 000 000 000 - ten billions 100 000 000 000 - hundred bllions 1 000 000 000 000 - trillions Many languages use compound numbers to make up numbers that we have grouping for in English. In French, the number 97 translates as 4 times 20 and 10 and 7. Quatre-vingt-dix-sept. Same could be asked about the Americans and the metric system; why not use it, like the rest of the world? True. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawkMan Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Many languages use compound numbers to make up numbers that we have grouping for in English. In French, the number 97 translates as 4 times 20 and 10 and 7. Quatre-vingt-dix-sept. So they're like the danes, who can only count to twenty and decided to create a completely illogical way to count. 97 in danish would be something like "syv og halv fems" or "seven and half fives" (roughly ish) wich translates to 7 and fives twenties, one of wich is half, by some mysterius logic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajua Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Here in Mexico we say: One Thousand Millions = 1 Billion = 1,000,000,000 One Billion = 1 Trillion = 1,000,000,000,000 So they're like the danes, who can only count to twenty and decided to create a completely illogical way to count.97 in danish would be something like "syv og halv fems" or "seven and half fives" (roughly ish) wich translates to 7 and fives twenties, one of wich is half, by some mysterius logic. And I thought that french numbers were complicated to learn how to speak... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subject Delta Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 I have a question:Why do Europeans say 1000 million instead of 1 billion? (The amount we are talking about is: 1,000,000,000 or 1.000.000.000 ) I am from Europe and I hardly ever hear people refer to a billion as a thousand million Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sethos Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 So they're like the danes, who can only count to twenty and decided to create a completely illogical way to count.97 in danish would be something like "syv og halv fems" or "seven and half fives" (roughly ish) wich translates to 7 and fives twenties, one of wich is half, by some mysterius logic. Shhh :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morphen Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 in Russia it is called "milliard" actually the exact same spelling as in norwegian :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slackerr Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 actually the exact same spelling as in norwegian :) Old Russian north-west territories have much in common with Scandinaviz :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurë Veteran Posted July 21, 2009 Veteran Share Posted July 21, 2009 Personally I've never heard of 1000 million being used.. Wait, what year did England become part of Europe again? No, but politically there is a separation. It seems to go back and forth. Sometimes England is a part of Europe, and other times there is a distinction. All of Europe is different countries. Why distinguish the UK from the rest? It depends on the phase of the moon and the year and location of the next solar eclipse. It really does just depend on what mood people are in, but I'd be surprised if anyone but UK'ers make any distinction. The only political ties I know of are the European Union, which was originally set up for the purposes of trade. It now has the single currency and a bunch of laws and we pay loads of money into its black hole.. not all European countries were originally in the EU, though it grows every year (and I have no idea who is or isn't part of it). The EU is rather unpopular in the UK and gets a lot of complaints and such. Our physical distance also plays a part .. it's easy to have a "us (UK) and them (rest of Europe)" attitude. The UK always had beef with us. Pun intended. >< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 So they're like the danes, who can only count to twenty and decided to create a completely illogical way to count. Well, the French made it up to 69 before it completely falls apart. :p 70 is 60+10, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boogerjones Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 This could be the greatest thread ever. Goddamn Euros. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subject Delta Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 I like to distance myself from the EU, as they do a lot of stuff that I don't agree with, but geographically I still consider myself to be a European. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidnightDevil Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Well... I say billion... and im from Portugal... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revvo Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 You have to say it right, Eleventy Billion Dollars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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