I suck at teh math

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holocene

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In a video, the narrator referred to the Milky Way Galaxy as having "Five Hundred Thousand Million" stars. <br /><br />That number seems strange, so I had to type it out. I am assuming that number is equal to: <br /><br />500,000,000,000 <br /><br />Is this correct? <br /><br />If so, why didn't the narrator just say "Five Hundred Billion"? <br /><br />Thanks a lot <br />
 
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qso1

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Your right, 500 billion is what you wrote out and what the narrator could have said. He or she probably came at a cheap price. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>
 
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doubletruncation

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Yeah, no idea why they didn't say 500 billion - maybe they thought 500 thousand million sounded bigger some how.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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qso1

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Both sound big to me but 500 billion is simpler to say. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>
 
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doubletruncation

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Ah yes, good point. Forgot about the two different billions! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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qso1

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I didn't know there were two different billions. What is this scale thats being referred to? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>
 
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halcyondays

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I am surprised no-one knows this. Up until around 20-30 years ago it was standard in the UK for one billion to be 10 to the power of 12. At some point in the 1970s, I would say, it became generally conventional for the UK to follow the US and European convention of regarding oine billion as 10 to the power of 9. There may be some diehards holding out. For example, astronomer Patrick Moore always talks of thousand millions instead of billions..........
 
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halcyondays

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I am surprised no-one knows this. Up until around 20-30 years ago it was standard in the UK for one billion to be 10 to the power of 12. At some point in the 1970s, I would say, it became generally conventional for the UK to follow the US and European convention of regarding oine billion as 10 to the power of 9. There may be some diehards holding out. For example, astronomer Patrick Moore always talks of thousand millions instead of billions..........
 
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qso1

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Thanks for clearing that up. If you knew me, you probably would not be suprised I didn't know. My math skills are somewhat challenged at times, lol. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>
 
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qso1

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Excellent link, thanks to you as well. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>
 
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arkady

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Yup, pretty confusing. In Danish ..<br /><br />1 million = 10^6<br />1 milliard = 10^9<br />1 billion = 10^12<br /><br />Pretty annoying, and source of quite a few translation errors. <br /><br />To the OP; The reporter probably tried to make his audience grasp the scale of the amount in question. For most people it's hard to imagine how much a trillion is, but if you say a million millions it gets a bit easier to grasp.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "<font color="#0000ff"><em>The choice is the Universe, or nothing</em> ... </font>" - H.G Wells </div>
 
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qso1

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I do remember milliard and found it to be a rather odd sounding name. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>
 
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raghara2

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"it became generally conventional for the UK to follow the US and European convention of regarding oine billion"<br /><br />IIRC majority of EU countries are using. prefix = log<sub />n<sub> a<br />Thus term biliton is million * million.<br /><br />This term arrived from marketing reasons if you'd use term billion, trillion, it would sound big, so you can sell thousand times less. The same reason was used when some HD companies redefined non SI term KB as something smaller, 120 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024 is approx 0.20 $ in additional costs, if they would like to have whole gigabytes.
 
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dragon04

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<font color="yellow">I do remember milliard and found it to be a rather odd sounding name.</font><br /><br />I wonder if anyone's system has a <b>calli</b>ard. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>
 
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qso1

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Good question, then there are billiards. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>
 
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