-illion

The -illion system is a suffix used to represent the powers of ten,^[1] the only large number system that is widely in use except for systems in eastern Asia which are based on a myriad. It has two distinct forms, the long scale and the short scale. English uses the short scale, while other languages such as French and German use the long scale. The long scale was also used in UK English until 1974, when the British usage and the American usage became identical.

The short scale goes as follows:

• million = \(10^6\)
• billion = \(10^9\)
• trillion = \(10^{12}\)
• quadrillion = \(10^{15}\)
• quintillion = \(10^{18}\)
• sextillion = \(10^{21}\)
• n-illion = \(10^{(3n + 3)}\) using Latin prefix n

The long scale goes as follows:

• million = \(10^6\)
• milliard = \(10^9\)
• billion = \(10^{12}\)
• billiard = \(10^{15}\)
• trillion = \(10^{18}\)
• trilliard = \(10^{21}\)
• quadrillion = \(10^{24}\)
• quadrilliard = \(10^{27}\)
• n-illion = \(10^{6n}\)
• n-illiard = \(10^{(6n + 3)}\)

In googological notations

For the short scale:

For the long scale:

For -illiard:

References

1. ↑ Billion from Wolfram Mathworld

See also

• millillion
• googolillion
• zillion
• Long and short scales on Wikipedia