Million, Billion, Trillion...

© Copyright 1999, Jim Loy

People sometimes ask me the names of the large numbers. Here is a table. The system used in the U.S. is not as logical as that used in other countries (like Great Britain, France, and Germany). In these other countries, a billion (bi meaning two) has twice as many zeros as a million, and a trillion (tri meaning three) has three times as many zeros as a million, etc. But the scientific community seems to use the American system.

Number of zeros	U.S. & scientific community	Other countries
3	thousand	thousand
6	million	million
9	billion	1000 million (1 milliard)
12	trillion	billion
15	quadrillion	1000 billion
18	quintillion	trillion
21	sextillion	1000 trillion
24	septillion	quadrillion
27	octillion	1000 quadrillion
30	nonillion	quintillion
33	decillion	1000 quintillion
36	undecillion	sextillion
39	duodecillion	1000 sextillion
42	tredecillion	septillion
45	quattuordecillion	1000 septillion
48	quindecillion	octillion
51	sexdecillion	1000 octillion
54	septendecillion	nonillion
57	octodecillion	1000 nonillion
60	novemdecillion	decillion
63	vigintillion	1000 decillion
66 - 120		undecillion - vigintillion
303	centillion
600	Ref: http://www.jimloy.com/math/billion.htm	centillion