Why do Europeans say 1000 million instead of 1 billion?

[Brian M. Veteran]

I'm in the UK, and I use the same naming as neufuse pointed out a few posts up.

[lnmnky]

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.

[Joel]

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.

[HawkMan]

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.

[ajua]

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...

[Subject Delta]

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

[Sethos]

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

[morphen]

in Russia it is called "milliard"

actually the exact same spelling as in norwegian :)

[Slackerr]

actually the exact same spelling as in norwegian :)

Old Russian north-west territories have much in common with Scandinaviz :)

[_bobcat_ Veteran]

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.

><

[Joel]

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.

[boogerjones]

This could be the greatest thread ever. Goddamn Euros.

[Subject Delta]

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.

[MidnightDevil]

Well... I say billion... and im from Portugal...

[revvo]

You have to say it right, Eleventy Billion Dollars