What happened to the British billion? When did 100,000,000 become accepted as a billion over here? A

What happened to the British billion? When did 100,000,000 become accepted as a billion over here? And where does this leave the trillion?

Jonny Cohen, Leeds, UK

• In 1975 Chancellor Denis Healey announced that the treasury would adopt the US billion thenceforth. Presuambly at the same time what was a billion became a trillion - after all, UK inflation was at its highest whilst he was the incumbent of Number 11!

  Jeff Vagg, Beckenham, UK

• I have to point out that the question itself is wrong - 1,000,000,000 is accepted as a billion over here, not 100,000,000 as the author has stated.

  Chris, London, England

• To Americans and the French, a billion means a thousand millions (1,000,000,000, or 10 to the ninth, what some British call a milliard, a term that seems never to have been widely accepted).

  To the British, including the Empire and the Commonwealth, billion has long meant a million millions (1,000,000,000,000, or 10 to the twelfth), what Americans call a trillion.

  It was to avoid this ambiguity that scientists, technical writers, and others to whom a few zeros more or less might make a difference, came to avoid the words altogether and refer to a thousand millions or a million millions when the use of numerals was not appropriate. Gradually, however, the American version began to predominate.

  Fowler merely noted the difference in Modern English Usage in 1926, but the second edition (1965) lamented: It is a pity we [the British] do not conform. The third (1996) observes that since 1951 the American usage has been increasing in Britain in technical writing and journalism but that the older sense is still common. In the past decade, the British government has been using the terms in the American sense in official publications.

  The same ambiguity exists as to trillion (to Americans, a thousand thousand millions, or 10 to the 12th; to the British, a million million millions, or 10 to the 18th) and quadrillion (to Americans, a thousand thousand thousand millions, or 10 to the 15th; to British, a million million million millions, or 10 to the 24th).

  Bill Dunlap, Hamden, Connecticut USA

• Curiously, about four years ago, I wrote the Guardian to ask which "billion" they used: the US (1000 million) or the French (million million). The old "British billion" was the French. It was a bit difficult to understand Guardian articles when large numbers are used if you do not know which billion is referenced. The US billion has become universally used in English-speaking countries. In 1974, British government statistics adopted the US billion. The UK press conforms. The French have shifted about between meanings but finally confirmed the "French" billion in 1961. Most non-English speaking nations follow the French with the notable exceptions of Russia and Brazil. Because the public rarely have any experience with such large numbers, the use of the French billion persists in Britain, especially among the elderly and the classical. In contrast, a US Senator, Everett Dirkson, reportedly once remarked, "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money".

  David Dreaming Bear, Horsethief Canyon, CA, USA

• In the Chinese language, a billion is 100,000,000. It is still widely used today. When I first picked up the English language, I was often confused. One billion (1,000,000,000) is equivalent to 10 Chinese billion.

  Benny, London, UK

• I think, in the interest of good sense and logic, that we should return to the old British billion or one million to the power of two. The Americans can follow our lead for a change!

  Tim Holloway, Ludlow

• I am surprised that the French invented the "incorrect" billion, given that they had "milliard" in their language. Well done the Swedes for sticking to commonsense.

  Rod Simmonds, Malvern

• The British Billion was 1,000,000,000,000 until circa 1974 when American astronomers decided to de-value it to 100,000,000,000 as they said it was easier to calculate light years. Then someone adopted 1,000,000,000 as the new billion. This is all nonsense, what about all the books that have been written using the original British billion? Who is going to understand them? It seems to me that if a name has been allotted to a collection of numbers, then that is how it should stand. Why should we follow the Americans: They don't speak English anyway, or do the same Maths!

  Peter Thomas, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, UK

• One old American = one new dullard. One new presbyter = one old priest writ large

  Mavis Enderby, Cheam, UK

• It's easy. 10^6 -> One million "(n+1)-illion" -> million "(n)-illion" (for example, one billion is a million million; or one trillion is a million billion, and so on...)

  Carlos, Igualada Spain

• Given much of the USA is obsessed with money it follows that turning one thousand million into a billion sounds great - until you start to talk about deficit and interest. Maybe the current crisis will knock a bit of sense into the argument because it isnt just money that's affected. Many estimates of population growth from the first half of last century predicted a true billion by the end of this century - thankfully we are less than even ten thousand million at the moment.

  Paul, Hobart Australia

• Just for fun I "googled" billimetre!

  Paul, Hobart Australia

• I am Spanish and found very confusing at first this because I was taught one billion was "a million of millions", that is 1.000.000.000.000.

  Lois, Stirling Scotland

• Some things seem to go round in circles - through our empire, half the world adopted some of our terms and spelling and now we are adopting American terms! One thing I wish the rest of Europe would adopt of ours (aside from the £!) is the , to indicate a thousand instead of the . It's quite shocking to receive the bill after lunch and momentarily think that I owe €12,456! And how the Yanks manage to measure anything in that crazy system of theirs (ours), I don't know. And what the hell does a fluid ounce look like?

  James, Ipswich England

• Let me put this into some perspective. The difference between the US billion and UK billion is that for every person in Salzburg State, Germany they would have recently discovered that they have lost only é6000 each as opposed to 6 million euros! Maybe we should ask the US to consider spelling billion with one 'l' as it is smaller!

  Bill Gates, Greenwich UK

• Having read through the list of replies, I feel that I am not an outcast but someone who thinks. Adopting American meanings leads to confusion. I saw a program recently where the presenter said that Pluto was 3,600 million miles away, then a minute later said it was 3.6 billion miles away. Now that is one hell of an eliptical orbit. And this is someone who works at the LHC! I take issue with the comment regarding old people and not adopting the 'new billion'. Having a 'living language' where new words are added and meanings change is good, but altering the value of a number just to make it seem that there are more 'billionaires' living in the States is, well just cheap! I grew up knowing the distances in (proper) billions and that is how I use them. If others wish to express billion in the smaller sense then they must make sure that it is backed up by showing the number of zeros used (ie 2.3 billion, 2,300,000,000) that way there is no confusion. As for the really confusing and illogical use of a decimal point being a thousand division, why? In language do we finish a paragraph with a comma? No. So why show a number with a comma as in 914,012 and not 914.012 when the first number looks to be a thousand times bigger? What next, my left arm is actually my right one?

  John, Liverpool

• I'm amused by the solidarity amongst the UK commentators here. Frankly, it doesn't really matter to me which term we use linguistically, as long as we have a unified definition. I'm an American, and I had never heard of a different billion before. When I saw a website that referenced this UK/US difference, I looked it up and arrived here. For me, one billion has always been 1,000,000,000. While I understand the semantics behind billion, trillion, and quadrillion being, respectively, million raised to the second, third, and fourth powers, it seems to me that this definition has some obvious setbacks. First of all, in writing, it would be cumbersome to write one thousand million, which could easily be shortened to thillion or some such term. But since most of the English-speaking world already uses billion for this number, why not continue to do so, regardless of the original term? One person brought up a good point: What about the old texts that reference an old 'British Billion'? I reckon for most people who delve into old texts, they either already know or are most certainly willing to discover such disparities for themselves. It is also likely that statistical, financial, or census data in the past has already been converted into digital format, so there shouldn't be much of an issue with folks digging up dusty old records and misunderstanding them. I highly doubt that in this information age, the difference between the old "British Billion" and the US billion would remain hidden from the curious inquirer. In any case, in the name of science and for the sake of never having to say "one thousand million" I will continue to use the American billion. It is just simpler. I hope everyone on the other side of the pond will still understand me!

  Josh, San Jose, CA US

• When it comes to things that really don't matter, such as how many zeroes equal this or that, then I have to admit, you Brits got us beat. But when you're buying airline tickets to visit a loved one, or turning on your PC or your Mac, just remember which country had the knowledge and wisdom to invent these two little trivial things.

  Nick Kon, Dallas, US

• It's only 3 zeros you may think so what has changed and what is the consequence. By taking away 3 Zeros you change the universe you inflate it from 0.0137 Billion Years old to a massive 13.7 Billion years. We now have a false impression of Time and space it is difficult to comprehend how big space is but saying in is 0.0137 billion light years it gives us a smaller perspective. You reduce the number of galaxies and stars in a gallaxy. There is now more room for planets to fit in to comprehension if only wee have 3 more Zeros. It makes a beginning more distant and allows heaven to exist.

  Shannon, Fareham England

• Seriously, it was done to annoy the British and I must say, I find it very satisfying to see it working so splendidly.

  Dennis K, Richmond, US

• As my wife just said to me, "it's in the name". As usual she is right, BIllion, TRIllion... Enough said. The american "billion" makes no sense or logic.

  xavi, portsmouth sweden