Definitions by munney

billion 

In English speaking countries means 10^9, in all other languages and countries except Brazilian Portuguese means 10^12. This is because English speaking nations use the short scale, where new notation is used when multiplied by 1000, rather than the long scale where its when multiplied by a million.

In English speaking countries, a billion times a thousand is a trillion. In non English speaking countries, a billion times a thousand is a billiard, which times a thousand THEN becomes a trillion.

billion by munney November 15, 2007