A billion explained

plissken · 14-04-2010 04:46PM

sbsquarepants wrote: »

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend,
but one advertising agency did a good job of
putting that figure into some perspective in
one of its releases.

1 Billion seconds ago it was 1959

1 Billion minutes ago Jesus was alive (allegedly!)

1 Billion hours ago it was the stone age

1 Billion days ago no one walked the earth on two feet

Lennihan....... you f'ucker:mad:

For you perhaps as the calculations you've posted are egregiously incorrect. Lenihan et al have clearly used the U.S derived understanding of the billion figure in their calculations, ie. one thousand million.

orourkeda · 14-04-2010 04:51PM

Deleted User wrote: »

A billion.. How many lives lost after five ****.

I thought it was more like 3 but you live and learn

TPD · 14-04-2010 05:33PM

So wait, does a billion in Ireland mean a thousand million or a million million?

Ruu_Old · 14-04-2010 05:34PM

Will I get bad luck if I don't forward this post?

Davidius · 14-04-2010 05:42PM

Would've thought a billion being a million squared would make a lot more sense.

14-04-2010 06:00PM

Davidius wrote: »

Would've thought a billion being a million squared would make a lot more sense.

Would it make any more sense than calling it a trillion?
What would you like to call a thousand million?

Davidius · 14-04-2010 06:21PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Would it make any more sense than calling it a trillion?
What would you like to call a thousand million?

I'm not sure where exactly the word 'million' comes from or anything but I suppose a trillion would make sense in some way. 10^9 = trillion would make sense if 10^6 was a billion and 10^3 was a million. Visually you'd have a 1 followed by three 'sets' of three zeroes, which represent 10^3.

That'd be my reasoning behind a billion = 10^12, the bi being used to indicate two sequences of six zeroes placed beside each other. It seems weird to have have 10^9 seeing as 9 is odd.

Personally I'd just call it a thousand million, or 'ten to the nine'. If you were really dying for a name just use kilomillion or something stupid sounding like that.

sock puppet · 14-04-2010 06:26PM

Davidius wrote: »

I'm not sure where exactly the word 'million' comes from or anything but I suppose a trillion would make sense in some way. 10^9 = trillion would make sense if 10^6 was a billion and 10^3 was a million. Visually you'd have a 1 followed by three 'sets' of three zeroes, which represent 10^3.

That'd be my reasoning behind a billion = 10^12, the bi being used to indicate two sequences of six zeroes placed beside each other. It seems weird to have have 10^9 seeing as 9 is odd.

Personally I'd just call it a thousand million, or 'ten to the nine'. If you were really dying for a name just use kilomillion or something stupid sounding like that.

Yes but you're not going to see the media saying things like "NAMA is to pay €5.4x10^10 for loans" anytime soon.

segaBOY · 14-04-2010 06:29PM

Deleted User wrote: »

What would you like to call a thousand million?

A milliard

Davidius · 14-04-2010 06:32PM

sock puppet wrote: »

Yes but you're not going to see the media saying things like "NAMA is to pay €5.4x10^10 for loans" anytime soon.

54 Gigaeuro :pac:

dRNk SAnTA · 14-04-2010 06:42PM

This thread has actually FAILED at explaining what a billion euros is!

Dermighty · 14-04-2010 07:24PM

The_Minister wrote: »

Everyone realises the government figures are American billions not British billions?

As in a billion is a thousand million, not a million million.

American billion = 100 million (100 x 1,000,000)

Proper billion = 1000 million (1,000 x 1,000,000)

Oisintarrant · 14-04-2010 07:37PM

The_Minister wrote: »

Everyone realises the government figures are American billions not British billions?

As in a billion is a thousand million, not a million million.

How has this fact escaped me until now! Thanks minister!

dRNk SAnTA · 14-04-2010 07:39PM

Dermighty wrote: »

American billion = 100 million (100 x 1,000,000)

Proper billion = 1000 million (1,000 x 1,000,000)

Jesus christ, where the f*ck did you go to school!

An American billion is 1,000 million - this is the number 99% of people mean when they say 1 billion)

A British Billion is 1,000,000 million (1 million million) - nobody uses this.

Sofa King Great · 14-04-2010 07:45PM

dRNk SAnTA wrote: »

Jesus christ, where the f*ck did you go to school!

An American billion is 1,000 million - this is the number 99% of people mean when they say 1 billion)

A British Billion is 1,000,000 million (1 million million) - nobody uses this.

Where did YOU go to school??

If nobody uses british billion and 99% use american billion what do the other 1% use?

peasant · 14-04-2010 08:27PM

this link might help

http://necromanc.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-315-billion-dollars-look-like.html

dRNk SAnTA · 14-04-2010 08:32PM

Sofa King Great wrote: »

Where did YOU go to school??

If nobody uses british billion and 99% use american billion what do the other 1% use?

I allowed for the numerically illiterate.

Cookie_Monster · 14-04-2010 09:34PM

Sofa King Great wrote: »

Where did YOU go to school??

If nobody uses british billion and 99% use american billion what do the other 1% use?

even the Brits don't use it

tech77 · 14-04-2010 09:56PM

dRNk SAnTA wrote: »

An American billion is 1,000 million - this is the number 99% of people mean when they say 1 billion)

A British Billion is 1,000,000 million (1 million million) - nobody uses this.

So British billionaires are the richest in the world?
I wish i was a British billionaire.

OutlawPete · 14-04-2010 10:54PM

CountingCrows wrote: »

So how many bags of rice will tonight's lotto get me?

You can have mine for free, it's no good to me now, been on the floor counting the grains all day.

Anyone remember the scene in Only Fools and Horses where Del Boys in the Indian restaurant and the waiter asks him what kind of rice he'd like and he says: "Have you got any Uncle Bens.." :pac:

A billion explained

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