Why are there two version of 1 billion?

Question

According to Wikipedia we have two versions of 1 billion
Short Scale: 10^9
Long Scale: 10^12
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1%2C000%2C000%2C000%2C000_%28number%29#109

Why do we have a short and long scale, so much for the universal language, seems to be a broken "language" in this planet alone.
Also I am british does that mean I use the 10^9 or the 10^12.
I know that USA uses 10^9

Answer 1

The reason is that logically speaking, 1,000,000,000 (American billion) can be expressed in English as 1 thousand million, without the need for new words. It also doesn't sound that tedious. But when you get to 1,000,000,000,000 you start repeating yourself ie a 1 million million, so it's time for a new word (British billion).



I guess Americans preferred 1 billion to '1 thousand million' because it's quicker to say, and they were the soonest to start talking in these numbers on a daily basis.

Answer 2

10^12 is british

10^9 is american



The british one has fallen out of favour a bit because its a bit to big the be used that often





However... if you think about it the British one is more logical because it means you're making full use of your numbers and you're using a system in which it's obvious when the next name for a number will come up.



What do I mean by this.... well when we get to thousands we then go up through all our existing numbers to describe the amount of thousands.... up to 9 hundred and ninety nine thousand 9 hundred and ninety nine, then we need a new number: a million.



So.... The efficient thing to do would be to 'use up' all our numbers to describe how many millions we have before introducing a new name. Hence we'd get up to 999,999,999,999 or 'nine hundred and ninetry nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine Million, nine hundred and ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine'

.... and then we'd need a new number.... One billion



That said, beyond that point the british system is just as bad because Trillions, Quadrillions, Quintillions, Sextillions etc. are all just a million times the previous one

Answer 3

In the U.S., "billion" means 10^9, and in the U.K., "billion" means 10^12