A Million and a Billion

[Ian Anderson]

Hi

I heard an extremely good comparison on the BBC this morning

Ask anyone how long a million seconds takes to pass and then how long a billion seconds is

Correct answers are About 11.5 days for the million
and the Billion - a little short of 32 years

So when these Monkeys (Politicians) start saying they need an extra £X billion just think how long it takes to repay it at £1 per second


In case anyone is still wondering here's the calculation for a Trillion

1,000,000,000,000 Seconds
16,666,666,667 Minutes
277,777,778 Hours
11,574,074 Days
31,710 Years

Not even Gordon Brown will manage to cling on in hope to see that repaid!

Ian

 

[Ron Earp]

Well it'd help if you Brits would get "a billion" straight.

World SI: (10 to Power of)
10^1 = 10
10^2 = 100
10^3 = 1,000 (Thousand)
10^4 = 1,000,000 (Million)
10^9 = 1,000,000,000 (Billion)

See, notice how the next grouping is 1000 (10^3) more than the previous grouping? Just like SI Units where billion is clearly 10^9. Easy!

UK
10^3 = 1,000
10^6 = 1,000,000 (Million)
10^12 = 1,000,000,000,000 (UK Billion, Million million)

10^12 - WTF?

However, I understand that you guys generally get the correct billion these days and it looks like the <32 years calculation shows that you do.

 

[roaldin]

I've never seen the 10^8.

I went to school in a fairly British era and I remember pretty distinctly that a billion was either (UK) 10^12 or US 10^9.

BTW that's one of the two things I agree with you yanks about.

My main disagreement with you is that US = World.

Tim.

 

[Chris Headon]

A British Billion is much bigger than an American Billion - it's about the only thing left for us to boast about being bigger than the US version ;-)

 

[Ron Earp]

I've never seen the 10^8.

I went to school in a fairly British era and I remember pretty distinctly that a billion was either (UK) 10^12 or US 10^9.

BTW that's one of the two things I agree with you yanks about.

My main disagreement with you is that US = World.

Tim.

Opps! Sorry, I meant a ^12 there! Fixt it. Now you guys know that I definitely do not have the view that US = World. Far from it.

But in this case case of "a billion", the UK definitely has a long history of a billion being 10^12, typically in the financial world. UK scientists have been able to sort of avoid the issue since they work with the International System of units as scientists do. In fact, many scientists were not aware of the issue at all since a billion is 10^9, end of story.

Apparently in 1974 something official was done about it.

The British Government took this advice in 1974, when Prime Minister Harold Wilson announced to the House of Commons that the meaning of "billion" in papers concerning Government statistics would thenceforth be 10^9, in conformity with U.S. usage.
​

But the thing is, it isn't really "US usage", it is just that the US adopted the common mathematical convention based on SI. Which is a bit odd since we didn't adopt anything else beyond the SI prefixes to be used in "everyday life" hence why we're still working in inches, pounds, psi, etc. But, at least we aren't using "Stone" to talk about how much our wives weigh!

But, it looks like in Ian's original post it was 10^12.

Chris, there are plenty of things about for the UK to boast about. Some of the UK crew get down on their own country, like we do here from time to time. But visiting across the ocean will certainly change perspectives and give a new appreciation for foreign counties as well as the home country.

 

[roaldin]

...Now you guys know that I definitely do not have the view that US = World. Far from it...

Yeah I know, I've seen you post on the topic before. Just having a dig.

Tim.

 

[Ian Anderson]

But, it looks like in Ian's original post it was 10^12.

Actually not so Ron
My original bit I used the more commonly accepted billion of 10^9
10^9 seconds =~ 32 years
10^6 seconds =~12 days


I purely did a comparison / calculation for a Trillion (10^12) as all our governments are now talking in these numbers.

I has also used the "Excel" format which puts a comma between the thousands and a decimal point at end of whole units. I believe SI rules state decimal comma and only a space between each set of 3 numbers.

And that in turn could lead to more "arguments" - even before we get into the correct way to display a telephone number!

Ian

 

[Ron Earp]

Actually not so Ron
My original bit I used the more commonly accepted billion of 10^9
10^9 seconds =~ 32 years
10^6 seconds =~12 days

And that in turn could lead to more "arguments" - even before we get into the correct way to display a telephone number!

Yep, correct, you did good.

Telephone numbers should be written legibly on a matchbook and sealed with lipstick. That is all I can say about that.