Re: Billion and other internationalization items (was Appendixes vs. Annexes)

[Chris Gooch <chris -dot- gooch -at- lightworkdesign -dot- com>]

Just a quick one - as I think the original poster hinted,
here in the UK a billion is 10 to the 9, i.e., one
thousand million, 10 to the 12 is trillion, etc.

It's true that Britain used to have billion as 10 to the 12,
or a million million, but that hasn't been the case for
some 30 years or so now.

Some older people may still be slightly confused
but really all the people that have to talk about
billions (scientists, chancellors of the exchequer,
international bankers, anyone planning to buy a house
in London :-) , etc) knows that billion is a thousand million.

So if you're an american writing for a british audience,
don't attempt to convert to "british billions" as it will
confuse us...

You can check such british usage things here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide
(thanks to Jane Carnall for pointing me to this some
time ago)

cheers,

Christopher Gooch, Technical Author
LightWork Design, Sheffield, UK.
0114 - 266 8404
chris -dot- gooch -at- lightworkdesign -dot- com   www.lightworkdesign.com



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