Mintaka Posted February 21, 2011 Report Posted February 21, 2011 78 000 000 000 000 000 000 is it 78 trillion? Quote
sanctus Posted February 21, 2011 Report Posted February 21, 2011 In the countries (I guess UK for the english speaking ones, in German it would be like you say) where you count as million-miliard-billion-billiard-trillion-etc yes. In the US I think it is more like million-billion-trillion-quadrillion-?? and your number would be 78 ?? I imagine it is pentillion or something like that, since penta is the abbreviation usally used for five... Tormod 1 Quote
Mintaka Posted February 21, 2011 Author Report Posted February 21, 2011 In the countries (I guess UK for the english speaking ones, in German it would be like you say) where you count as million-miliard-billion-billiard-trillion-etc yes. In the US I think it is more like million-billion-trillion-quadrillion-?? and your number would be 78 ?? I imagine it is pentillion or something like that, since penta is the abbreviation usally used for five... Thank you, yes I'm from the UK. Quote
Turtle Posted February 21, 2011 Report Posted February 21, 2011 78 000 000 000 000 000 000 is it 78 trillion? in archaic britain it's 78 trillion, in us and modern britain , it's 78 quintillion. names of large numbers Quote
CraigD Posted February 21, 2011 Report Posted February 21, 2011 78 000 000 000 000 000 000 is it 78 trillion?In the UK and other "long scale" number naming convention using places, yes, [math]7.8 \times 10^{19}[/math] would be called "78 trillion" In the US and other "short scale" using places, would be called "78 quintillion". I prefer the short scale, as it follows simpler rules: just take away 3 zero, count how many groups of 3 zeros remain, and use the Latin number name (bi-, tri-, quadr-) for the count, except replace "uni-" with "mil-". The short scale always uses the "-ion" ending. The long scale is arguable more mathematically sensible, though, as for it, you just count the groups of 6 zero, use their Latin number names, then, if there're a remaining 3 zeros, use the "-lard" ending, otherwise use the "-lion" ending. As with the short scale, if there's only one group of zeros, replace the "uni-" with "mil-". Complicated and confusing, eh? To avoid that, I like to just use scientific notation, calling this number "seven point eight ey nineteen". Quote
Mintaka Posted February 21, 2011 Author Report Posted February 21, 2011 In the UK and other "long scale" number naming convention using places, yes, [math]7.8 \times 10^{19}[/math] would be called "78 trillion" In the US and other "short scale" using places, would be called "78 quintillion". I prefer the short scale, as it follows simpler rules: just take away 3 zero, count how many groups of 3 zeros remain, and use the Latin number name (bi-, tri-, quadr-) for the count, except replace "uni-" with "mil-". The short scale always uses the "-ion" ending. The long scale is arguable more mathematically sensible, though, as for it, you just count the groups of 6 zero, use their Latin number names, then, if there're a remaining 3 zeros, use the "-lard" ending, otherwise use the "-lion" ending. As with the short scale, if there's only one group of zeros, replace the "uni-" with "mil-". Complicated and confusing, eh? To avoid that, I like to just use scientific notation, calling this number "seven point eight ey nineteen". thank you all. I will need to study this in more detail and memorise. Quote
sanctus Posted February 22, 2011 Report Posted February 22, 2011 WEll, I don't know if you need to memorize too much. I mean how often do you encounter these numbers? :D Quote
Mintaka Posted February 22, 2011 Author Report Posted February 22, 2011 WEll, I don't know if you need to memorize too much. I mean how often do you encounter these numbers? :D all the time ;-)) number of atoms in a grain of sand. Quote
Turtle Posted February 23, 2011 Report Posted February 23, 2011 thank you all. I will need to study this in more detail and memorise. good for you!! in this 21st century with our gigabytes & terawatts & national debts in the trillions, we darn well ought to have some real understanding of just how big these bigs be. (a billion bytes and a trillion watts ;)). like craig, i prefer the short scale nomenclature for big numbers; it is easy to remember that each new name is 1,000 times the previous name. Quote
CraigD Posted February 23, 2011 Report Posted February 23, 2011 good for you!! in this 21st century with our gigabytes ...Speaking of bytes, this seems a good place to mention the SI standard binary numeric prefixes. :) Despite being formally adopted over 12 years ago and addressing an important issue, they're little known even among computer professionals, and possibly destine to suffer the same oblivion as French revolutionary decimal time and day system. The problem is that we often need to count quantities that are powers of two - usually computer memory and storage - but a binary "kilo" (thosand) is 210=102410, roughly but not precisely the decimal kilo, 103=1000. So, after decades of minor chaos, a bunch of standards pros came up with SI prefixes for binary multiples: kibi (pronounced "kiby", long name "kilobinary"), mebi, gibi, tebi, pebi, exbi, and (not in the standard, but logical continuations) zebi and yobi. For better or worse, using these prefixes consistently in everyday technical conversations (ie: "Order me a couple of hundred of those two gibibyte SIMs, won't'cha?") - making sure everyone knows you're not just using the regular decimal prefixes with a subtle speech impediment - is as sure a way to cement your reputation as a utter geek as I know. Use with caution. Turtle 1 Quote
sanctus Posted February 23, 2011 Report Posted February 23, 2011 Turtle, but it is not by knowing how to call the number that one grasps how big they are...I once amused myself how many years are one billion (US ergo 10^9, so 1 milliard archaic ;-)) seconds. So on the 29th of June 2013 at 17h01 I will celebrate my billionth birthday. And it turns out to be a Saturday even ;-) So big party ;-). I was quite surprised to see how big actually a billion is. And I calculated this in order to actually get a grasp of how much a billion is...that helps much more than knowing the name... Quote
Turtle Posted February 23, 2011 Report Posted February 23, 2011 Turtle, but it is not by knowing how to call the number that one grasps how big they are...I once amused myself how many years are one billion (US ergo 10^9, so 1 milliard archaic ;-)) seconds. So on the 29th of June 2013 at 17h01 I will celebrate my billionth birthday. And it turns out to be a Saturday even ;-) So big party ;-). I was quite surprised to see how big actually a billion is. And I calculated this in order to actually get a grasp of how much a billion is...that helps much more than knowing the name... :lol: you wanted to know how big what was? oh yeah; a billion. how could you talk about a billion without having a name for it? kinda like a chicken & egg scenario isn't it? a rose by any other name would smell as sweet; but you gotta have some name. :rose: sanctus 1 Quote
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