Billion in the context of "Trillion"

⭐ In the context of numerical scales, a trillion, as traditionally defined by the long scale, is how many times larger than a billion?

Ad spacer

⭐ Core Definition: Billion

Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions:

  • 1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or 10 (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is now the most common sense of the word in all varieties of English; it has long been established in American English and has since become common in Britain and other English-speaking countries as well.
  • 1,000,000,000,000, i.e. one million million, or 10 (ten to the twelfth power), as defined on the long scale. This number is the historical sense of the word and remains the established sense of the word in other European languages. Though displaced by the short scale definition relatively early in US English, it remained the most common sense of the word in Britain until the 1950s and still remains in occasional use there.

American English adopted the short scale definition from the French (it enjoyed usage in France at the time, alongside the long-scale definition). The United Kingdom used the long scale billion until 1974, when the government officially switched to the short scale, but since the 1950s the short scale had already been increasingly used in technical writing and journalism. Moreover, in 1941, Winston Churchill remarked: "For all practical financial purposes a billion represents one thousand millions..."

↓ Menu

>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<

👉 Billion in the context of Trillion

Trillion is a number with two distinct definitions:

  • 1,000,000,000,000, i.e. one million million, or 10 (ten to the twelfth power), as defined on the short scale. This is now the meaning in both American and British English.
  • 1,000,000,000,000,000,000, i.e. 10 (ten to the eighteenth power), as defined on the long scale. This is one million times larger than the short scale trillion. This is the historical meaning in English and the current use in many non-English-speaking countries where trillion and billion 10 (ten to the twelfth power) maintain their long scale definitions.
↓ Explore More Topics
In this Dossier

Billion in the context of Large numbers

Large numbers are numbers far larger than those encountered in everyday life, such as simple counting or financial transactions. These quantities appear prominently in mathematics, cosmology, cryptography, and statistical mechanics. Googology studies the naming conventions and properties of these immense numbers.

Since the customary decimal format of large numbers can be lengthy, other systems have been devised that allows for shorter representation. For example, a billion is represented as 13 characters (1,000,000,000) in decimal format, but is only 3 characters (10) when expressed in exponential format. A trillion is 17 characters in decimal, but only 4 (10) in exponential. Values that vary dramatically can be represented and compared graphically via logarithmic scale.

↑ Return to Menu

Billion in the context of Square metre

The square metre (international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or square meter (American spelling) is the unit of area in the International System of Units (SI) with symbol m. It is the area of a square with sides one metre in length.

Adding and subtracting SI prefixes creates multiples and submultiples; however, as the unit is exponentiated, the quantities grow exponentially by the corresponding power of 10. For example, 1 kilometre is 10 (one thousand) times the length of 1 metre, but 1 square kilometre is (10) (10, one million) times the area of 1 square metre, and 1 cubic kilometre is (10) (10, one billion) cubic metres.

↑ Return to Menu

Billion in the context of Herbicide

Herbicides (US: /ˈɜːrbɪsdz/, UK: /ˈhɜːr-/), also commonly known as weed killers, are substances used to control undesired plants, also known as weeds. Selective herbicides control specific weed species while leaving the desired crop relatively unharmed, while non-selective herbicides (sometimes called "total weed killers") kill plants indiscriminately. The combined effects of herbicides, nitrogen fertilizer, and improved cultivars has increased yields (per acre) of major crops by three to six times from 1900 to 2000.

In the United States in 2012, about 91% of all herbicide usage was, determined by weight, applied in agriculture. In 2012, world pesticide expenditures totaled nearly US$24.7 billion; herbicides were about 44% of those sales and constituted the biggest portion, followed by insecticides, fungicides, and fumigants. Herbicide is also used in forestry, where certain formulations have been found to suppress hardwood varieties in favor of conifers after clearcutting, as well as pasture systems.

↑ Return to Menu

Billion in the context of 1000000000 (number)

1,000,000,000 ("one billion" on the short scale; "one milliard" on the long scale; one thousand million) is the natural number following 999,999,999 and preceding 1,000,000,001. With a number, "billion" can be abbreviated as b, bil or bn.

In standard form, it is written as 1 × 10. The metric prefix giga indicates 1,000,000,000 times the base unit. Its symbol is G.

↑ Return to Menu

Billion in the context of Tera-

Tera- (/ˈtɛrə/; symbol T) is a metric prefix denoting a factor of a short-scale trillion or long-scale billion (10 or 1000000000000). It was adopted in the International System of Units (SI) in 1960. The prefix is derived from the Greek word τέρας (téras), meaning "monster".

↑ Return to Menu

Billion in the context of Lead–acid battery

The lead–acid battery is a type of rechargeable battery. First invented in 1859 by French physicist Gaston Planté, it was the first type of rechargeable battery ever created. Compared to the more modern rechargeable batteries, lead–acid batteries have relatively low energy density and heavier weight. Despite this, they are able to supply high surge currents. These features, along with their low cost, make them useful for motor vehicles in order to provide the high current required by starter motors. Lead–acid batteries suffer from relatively short cycle lifespan (usually less than 500 deep cycles) and overall lifespan (due to the double sulfation in the discharged state), as well as long charging times.

As they are not as expensive when compared to newer technologies, lead–acid batteries are widely used even when surge current is not important and other designs could provide higher energy densities. In 1999, lead–acid battery sales accounted for 40–50% of the value from batteries sold worldwide (excluding China and Russia), equivalent to a manufacturing market value of about US$15 billion. Large-format lead–acid designs are widely used for storage in backup power supplies in telecommunications networks such as for cell sites, high-availability emergency power systems as used in hospitals, and stand-alone power systems. For these roles, modified versions of the standard cell may be used to improve storage times and reduce maintenance requirements. Gel cell and absorbed glass mat batteries are common in these roles, collectively known as valve-regulated lead–acid (VRLA) batteries.

↑ Return to Menu

Billion in the context of Unicorn (finance)

In business, a unicorn is a startup company valued at over US$1 billion which is privately owned and not listed on a share market. The term was first published in 2013, coined by venture capitalist Aileen Lee, choosing the mythical animal to represent the statistical rarity of such successful ventures.

Many unicorns saw their valuations fall in 2022 as a result of an economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, an increase in interest rates causing the cost of borrowing to grow, increased market volatility, stricter regulatory scrutiny and underperformance. CB Insights identified 1,248 unicorns worldwide as of May 2024. Unicorns with over $10 billion in valuation have been designated as "decacorn" companies. For private companies valued over $100 billion, the terms "centicorn" and "hectocorn" have been used.

↑ Return to Menu