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Milliard


In French and German usage, one milliard equals 10^9=1000000000.

American usage does not have a number called the milliard, instead using the term billion to denote 10^9. British usage, while formerly using "milliard," has in recent years adopted the American convention (Mish 2003, p. 852). This constitutes a fortunate development for standardization of terminology, albeit a somewhat regrettable development from the point of view that the (former) British convention for representing large numbers is simpler and more logical than the American one.

A terrible mathematical joke asks "What American President, with cities in California and Utah named after him, is associated in France and Germany with 10^9?" Answer: Milliard Fillmore (J. vos Post, pers. comm., Apr. 27, 2006).


See also

Billion, Large Number, Million, Trillion

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References

Mish, F. C. (Ed.). Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 2003.

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Milliard

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Milliard." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Milliard.html

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