Place Value With Whole Numbers And Decimals: Big Numbers

ADVERTISEMENT

Place value with whole numbers and decimals: Big numbers
Name
Short scale
Long scale
(US and modern
(continental Europe,
British)
older British)
Million
10
6
10
6
Billion
10
9
10
12
12
18
Trillion
10
10
Quadrillion
10
15
10
24
Quintillion
10
18
10
30
21
36
Sextillion
10
10
Septillion
10
24
10
42
Octillion
10
27
10
48
30
54
Nonillion
10
10
33
60
Decillion
10
10
Consider these points for discussion:
• There is confusion over some amounts. For example, one billion is usually
understood to be one thousand million (10
9
), but in some contexts one
12
billion is one million million (10
).
• The names of big numbers (like smaller numbers) go in threes. These are
ones, tens and hundreds. For example one trillion, ten trillion or one
hundred trillion.
• Adding an extra zero to any whole number means the amount gets ten
times bigger. When we are working with already large numbers an extra
zero can mean that the difference is huge.
• Countries may talk about their national budgets, or the amounts of money
that they work with, in trillions. However contexts for using bigger
numbers than this are not found in day-to-day life. They are however
often found in other contexts such as science, for example, distances in
the universe.
• We should be careful of the way we talk about and use big numbers. We
are often casual and imprecise in our reference to them and what we say
becomes meaningless.

ADVERTISEMENT

00 votes

Related Articles

Related forms

Related Categories

Parent category: Education
Go