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Large Numbers & Their Uses — Parallax Forums

Large Numbers & Their Uses

HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
edited 2013-09-10 22:25 in General Discussion
List of Large Numbers & Their Uses
In working with large numbers, sometimes there's a need for the word description based on the number of zeros, especially in numerical computing of large numbers and computer scientific experimenting with massive states. The following list is very helpful. Can you post some Parallax related examples? Some examples are filled in below.

Number of Zeros Expression
3/thousand - BASIC Stamp (Thousands of IPS)
6/million - Propeller chip (MIPS)
9/billion - Propeller UltraSpark 40 (Billions of IPS)
12/trillion
15/quadrillion - Propeller Chip Pins (Quadrillion Trinary States)
18/quintillion
21/sextillion
24/septillion
27/octillion
30/nonillion
33/decillion
36/undecillion
39/duodecillion
42/tredecillion
45/quattuordecillion
48/quindecillion
51/sexdecillion
54/septendecillion
57/octodecillion
60/novemdecillion
63/vigintillion
66/undecillion
303/centillion
«1

Comments

  • Dave HeinDave Hein Posts: 6,347
    edited 2010-10-28 14:51
    Are you talking about the long scale or the short scale? In the long scale a million million is a billion, but in the short scale a million million is a trillion, and a thousand million would be a billion. The list you give is for the short scale.

    Edit: What happened to your example of a million million?
  • HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
    edited 2010-10-28 15:36
    Dave Hein wrote: »
    Are you talking about the long scale or the short scale? In the long scale a million million is a billion, but in the short scale a million million is a trillion, and a thousand million would be a billion. The list you give is for the short scale. Edit: What happened to your example of a million million?
    Dave, thank you for noting the short scale. There was a response to a million million in that it was also a correct way to state it, either as primary or secondary usage. There are many scales and international perspectives...
  • localrogerlocalroger Posts: 3,451
    edited 2010-10-28 16:27
    Dave, Parallax is in California which (last I checked) has not seceded from the United States yet. So we use 1 million = 10^6, a billion = 10^9, and 1 trillion=10^12. We're all used to this scale since we're regularly told how many trillions of dollars our government has spent on this and that, and we'd all probably want to move to Europe except then we hear how much a trillion is there.
  • CampeckCampeck Posts: 111
    edited 2010-10-29 08:18
    Wait...so US =
    1,000,000 = 1 million
    1,000,000,000 = one thousand million = billion
    1,000,000,000,000 = one thousand billion = trillion

    and in EU?
    Because I got in an argument one time with my grandparents and father who are from Spain and they were saying something completely different that sounded crazy to me.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2010-10-29 08:26
    How obvious can it be?

    billion:
    From French billion. From the prefix bi-, meaning two + -illion (from million); i.e. a million million.

    trillion: From French trillion. From the prefix tri- (three) + -illion (from million); ie a million million million

    etc etc.

    How the Americans came to screw up such a simple thing I don't understand.
  • VernVern Posts: 75
    edited 2010-10-29 08:58
    Try being a Canadian consumer who's majority of the goods they buy are imported from the States. If it was fully assembled in the states everything will be imperial (which sucks). If it was partially assembeled in the states and partially in Canada then its a mish mash of imperial and metric (which sucks). Plus because of the States the imperial measurement system just won't die and I have a hard enough time finding a helper that can use a tape measure in one number system never mind two :D

    The imperial system needs to die, it is only holding back progress.

    And don't even get me started on colour and color. Everyone else in the world know's which is the correct spelling, yet the states refuses to yield.
  • CampeckCampeck Posts: 111
    edited 2010-10-29 10:04
    so in EU a billion is
    1,000,000,000,000?

    interesting. Yeah the states think that the whole world IS the states...
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2010-10-29 10:42
    Yes, strictly speaking. But the US billion (1,000,000,000) is in common use in the UK, especially in financial circles.
  • Dave HeinDave Hein Posts: 6,347
    edited 2010-10-29 11:08
    We could just use the SI prefixes (kilo, mega, giga, ...). That would make it unambiguous. They are listed on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SI_prefix . Now I know what Seinfeld meant when he said "yotta yotta yotta". He was talking about very large numbers. :)
  • W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
    edited 2010-10-29 19:57
    Undecillion is in the list twice.

    Rich H
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2010-10-30 07:54
    W9GFO wrote: »
    Undecillion is in the list twice.

    Rich H

    It seems someone can't count.

    Leon has a rather unique grouping 1, 0000, 0000, 000 equals a billion -- looks like a hundred billion to me.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2010-10-30 08:09
    I've corrected it.
  • CampeckCampeck Posts: 111
    edited 2010-10-30 10:00
    Leon wrote: »
    I've corrected it.

    You still left one :p
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2010-10-30 10:24
    I've forgotten how to count. :(

    No one has mentioned the googol or the googolplex:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googol

    I was at school in the 1950s when I read Kasner's book.
  • mctriviamctrivia Posts: 3,772
    edited 2010-10-30 12:01
    I thought the short scale was the standard now world wide for 2 reasons.

    1) North America has always used short scale and they have the money
    2) It matches nicer with engineering notation so you don't have strange sounding numbers like "fifty six thousand four hundred ninety eight million three hundred sixty two thousand eight hundred seventy six"

    to me "fifty six billion four hundred ninety eight million three hundred sixty two thousand eight hundred seventy six" sounds better.

    It can get confusing when 1 billion means 2 different things in different countries. Luckily numbers above 1 trillion(short scale) are seldom said in long form adopting scientific or engineering notation instead. For me I keep my calculator in engineering notation.
  • W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
    edited 2010-10-30 12:24
    Loopy Byteloose wrote: »
    It seems someone can't count.

    Is it me?

    Rich H
  • ReachReach Posts: 107
    edited 2013-09-08 06:35
    Is Time the only thing the world can agree on these days? Seconds, hours, days and years?
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2013-09-08 08:14
    Reach wrote: »
    Is Time the only thing the world can agree on these days? Seconds, hours, days and years?

    Are you talkin about Eastern Daylight Time? Or Central Time? UTC? Sidereal Time? Mayan Calendar Time? Chinese New Year or Orthodox Christian New Year?

    Or how 'bout Indiana's time zones? Gotta love 'em all.

    map2.gif
  • RDL2004RDL2004 Posts: 2,554
    edited 2013-09-08 08:44
    Yeah, Indiana is a bit weird. They basically don't use daylight time, except those counties that are near large cities in other states which do use daylight time or are in a different time zone. I used to live in Clark and Floyd counties where they follow with Louisville, KY

    An interesting fact which I didn't know until recently is that China, despite the size of the country, is all one time zone. No matter where you are in China, it's the same time.
  • wasswass Posts: 151
    edited 2013-09-08 09:08
    RDL2004 wrote: »
    Yeah, Indiana is a bit weird...

    Especially when it comes to mathematics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Pi_Bill
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2013-09-08 09:52
    Not really sure anyone agrees about time.

    China is entirely one time zone -- from the Pacific to Tibet... very odd.
    Taiwan is currently in the year 102 of the R.O.C time; Thailand reports years in Buddhist era, not Christian era.

    Recently, I think an Arab country (like maybe Yemen) finally agreed to drop weekends on Friday and Thursday as the rest of the world couldn't understand it and just would do business with them 3 days a week.

    Then there are a variety of Lunar calendars that conflict with the usual 365 and 1/4 day Solar calendar that we generally think of as 'the year'.

    Go deeper into stellar navigation or astrology and celestial time begins to bend your mind.
  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    edited 2013-09-08 12:00
    Vern wrote: »
    And don't even get me started on colour and color. Everyone else in the world know's which is the correct spelling, yet the states refuses to yield.

    Well, for the 387,000,000 individuals around the world that write in Spanish, 'color' is correct. :) Restoring needless u's is likely never to happen in the US. In all my years, I've never detected the slightest inclination in that direction - we seem very happy with Daniel Webster's changes. Switching to SI units, OTOH, is much more likely. In fact, anyone that does anything is already comfortable with both.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-09-08 12:05
    Yes, but Spanish is a different language. You are right that Americans will never get back to spelling colour the English way, and so I just wish they would stop calling their language English.
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2013-09-08 12:24
    Heater. wrote: »
    Yes, but Spanish is a different language. You are right that Americans will never get back to spelling colour the English way, and so I just wish they would stop calling their language English.

    We'll start calling it Ameriglish as soon as the English start pronouncing their own language properly. For example. What's the deal with the letter 'r'? Claiming that you have a nonrhotic accent is such a cop-out. Plus the estuary dialect uses a glottal stop instead of the 'tt' sound in words like butter, and 'f' instead of 'th' in words like think.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-09-08 12:49
    All true Martin.

    However those people are English and living in England. Whatever they speak is the way English people speak, that must be English. They can define their language how they like. Nobody outside has a right to complain about it.

    Of course that encompasses a wide range of pronunciations. When you start messing with the spelling, grammar or meaning and you are not actually English then that is some other language.
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2013-09-08 13:01
    Well there's a certain logic to that chain of reasoning. Since I live in New England and speak an English like language*, I shall call it "New English".

    * I'd wager that I sound more like BBC received pronunciation than your average Estuary, Glaswegian, or Yorkshire dialect speakers.
  • ajwardajward Posts: 1,130
    edited 2013-09-08 13:05
    Time in Indiana was a bit strange. I lived in a county that stayed on Standard Time, but worked about an hour away, in a county that observed Daylight Time. In the Winter it wasn't too bad 'cept for the weather. Had to be at work at 8:00 AM, so I left home at 8:00 and arrived at work at 8:00 AM. When the workday was over, I left work at 5:00 PM and got home at 7:00 PM.

    @
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2013-09-08 13:51
    ajward wrote: »
    Time in Indiana was a bit strange....so I left home at 8:00 and arrived at work at 8:00 AM. ..

    Maybe that explains why I sometimes left Wright-Patt AFB in 1967 and, a few hours later, ended up in Indiana in 1928.

    I also seem to remember a bar in Indiana that had one half close at 1 AM or whatever, but you could walk across the red time zone line on the floor and keep drinking on the other side.
  • ReachReach Posts: 107
    edited 2013-09-08 13:56
    I suppose ill write metric with my left hand and imperial with the right hand. Who know what will happen if I write at the same time. :)
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    edited 2013-09-09 20:16
    Jeez, arguing about relics from the stone age. Move into the 21st century. It's mega (1,000,000), giga (1,000,000,000), tera (1,000,000,000,000), peta (1,000,000,000,000,000), etc. ;-) As for spelling, it should be phonetic. It's ridiculous the way it is now. Take a look at the way children spell as they are learning to write. The majority of mistakes they make are actually the logical spelling of words based on how they sound ;-)
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