What is one billion ?

[metatron]

mister "Mädchen (girl) is in the neuter gender"
hell, it's in dutch too (native langauge of OP)

thread defeated?

Don't get me started.
You attribute next to nothing its appropriate sex but are fine with calling all kinds of beings that are extremely likely to be female "he" (like spiders, ants etc.).

Oh and technically it is "das Bübchen" (neutral), too. Diminutives are neutral. Big deal.

 

[Earthling]

the last thing I need is for a German to lecture to me

If I have to give a point to the British, not necessarily on this long-scale stuff, but in general, it's that they'll usually pretty good about humor and wit, even if they'd be wont to reference their own "programmes" over superior American creations like the Simpsons

 

[Moonbat]

1 000 000 000 is a miljard, next up is billion.

 

[Hygro]

I have had the best argument in this thread

 

[Dachs]

haha, now it's the Euros who have the archaic nonsensical system and can't see the light

 

[metatron]

I have had the best argument in this thread

Apparently you stopped reading at that point.

haha, now it's the Euros who have the archaic nonsensical system and can't see the light

I can see your arguments. They're just not that good.
It's a convention. Usually the major concern with conventions is that they are practical. Numbers on both scales can be handled equally well and i pointed out the practical advantage of the long scale.
That's not comparable to say using the metric system or one that is pretty much outright insistence not to have any system at all.

 

[Dachs]

I can see your arguments. They're just not that good.
It's a convention. Usually the major concern with conventions is that they are practical. Numbers on both scales can be handled equally well and i pointed out the practical advantage of the long scale.
That's not comparable to say using the metric system or one that is pretty much outright insistence not to have any system at all.

I haven't made any arguments...

I mean, why would I need to, when you're saying things like this

Since you resort to implied insults i suppose you are out of arguments?

Oh and with scientific community you probably mean the Anglospere's, the one that manages to miss planets with spacecrafts via confusion over meters and yards.

unintentional comedy?

 

[Bill3000]

Don't get me started.
You attribute next to nothing its appropriate sex but are fine with calling all kinds of beings that are extremely likely to be female "he" (like spiders, ants etc.).

We attribute everything with an actual gender to their respective gender, and we don't call spiders or ants "he;" you'd use "it" if you're doing it generically, elsewhere the appropriate sex if you care about a specific individual and the sex is relevant.

Oh and technically it is "das Bübchen" (neutral), too. Diminutives are neutral. Big deal.

Yeah, it's a pretty big deal when you're referring to a person as an object Point is, natural language ain't followin' follow "logical" rules!

 

[Hygro]

Apparently you stopped reading at that point.

The point of naming numbers is for concise mental organization and quickness of comprehension.

Any long argument intrinsically disproves itself. There is the short argument in favor of million, million million = billion, billion billion = trillion, or whatever. Then I present a better logic for short billion changed system. Where's the counter argument to mine?

 

[Brighteye]

We have base 10. When we get to 10 x 10 we need a new name: we call it one hundred. When we have a mere 10 hundreds, we call it one thousand. When we have one thousand thousands, we call it a million.
By this pattern 1,000,000,000 is a billion, but then 10^18 is a trillion and 10^27 is a quadrillion, because we alternately multiply the number by itself and then use the next step down multiplied by the current step for our next name.

The old system too 1,000 as the exception, and continued with multiplication, using a new name only when needed. The new, American system arbitrarily chose 1,000 as the factor needed for each new name.

 

[Lillefix]

The point of naming numbers is for concise mental organization and quickness of comprehension.

Any long argument intrinsically disproves itself. There is the short argument in favor of million, million million = billion, billion billion = trillion, or whatever. Then I present a better logic for short billion changed system. Where's the counter argument to mine?

With the long count system you only have to remember half the number of prefixes as you do with the short count system. That's a positive thing and eases comprehension.

 

[Camikaze]

And double the number of suffixes.

 

[Brighteye]

If you say that millard and billard are an intrinsic part of the older system.

 

[Holycannoli]

So there was a time when 1 trillion was called 1 billion?

You learn something new every day.

 

[civ_king]

So there was a time when 1 trillion was called 1 billion?

You learn something new every day.

yes, in the bad old days we called a trillion a billion

 

[metatron]

I haven't made any arguments...

I noticed that.
That was a plural "you".

I mean, why would I need to, when you're saying things like this

unintentional comedy?

Yes. On Earthling's part.

Point is, natural language ain't followin' follow "logical" rules!

I didn't claim that. I merely claimed that the long scale isn't any less "logical" as a naming convention than the short scale.

 

[Dachs]

I noticed that.
That was a plural "you".

Yes. On Earthling's part.

Reproaching somebody for firing off insults in one sentence and then making your own insults in the very next one isn't funny?

 

[gangleri2001]

Billion = Million of millions.

 

[metatron]

Reproaching somebody for firing off insults in one sentence and then making your own insults in the very next one isn't funny?

It would.
But i am sure you can see how the two statements are very different...

 

[Kennigit]

Yeesh, arguing in a thread at best worthy of a one liner response (one that many attempted, but few succeeded?)

But I never heard of this before (edit: USA #1), so the creation of the thread was VERY important. The response notsomuch.