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You can represent any number in either scale, the short scale simply aligns the names with the comma/dot representation. The short scale offers more precision a

by bane 11y ago

You can represent any number in either scale, the short scale simply aligns the names with the comma/dot representation. The short scale offers more precision and is easier to say when dealing with common "large" numbers like GDP, or shipping volume or whatnot. Instead of saying "the trade imbalance this quarter was $58 billion" you'd say "the trade imbalance this quarter was $58 thousand million". Or "The total revenue this quarter was $23 billion, 118 million, 326 thousand, 112" or "$23 thousand million, 118 million, 326 thousand, 112". The later is harder to say, maps poorly between representational spacers (commas/dots depending), and is easy to confuse. Keep in mind, before the 20th century, there wasn't much of a case where anybody would have to deal with figures this large, these days literally everybody does. Getting rid of two syllables and aligning the spoken form with the representational form greatly simplifies day-to-day speech.

Someone 11y ago
That's why the long scale has milliard, billiard, trilliard, etc. The long scale is slightly more logical with its (Latin number)illion = 10^(6 times Latin number) (whatever)illiard = 1000 times (whatever)illion , compared to the short scale's (Latin number)illion = 10^(3 times Latin number plus 3) that somehow maps even Latin numbers to odd exponents and vice versa. If one could design this from a clean sheet, I think a short form where billion = 10^6, trillion = 10^9 would make the most sense, as it logically names numbers that one might encounter. Scientists who need huge numbers will use scientific notation or phrases such as gigadollars.
seszett 11y ago
As the sibling comment says, I think you somehow missed the -iard words. Since the words larger than thousand that are used most often (at this time) are million and milliard/billion, I like the way milliard is very different from million and at the same time, in French, follows a kind of natural progression from mille, million, milliard.

by bane 11y ago

Someone 11y ago

That's why the long scale has milliard, billiard, trilliard, etc. The long scale is slightly more logical with its (Latin number)illion = 10^(6 times Latin number) (whatever)illiard = 1000 times (whatever)illion , compared to the short scale's (Latin number)illion = 10^(3 times Latin number plus 3) that somehow maps even Latin numbers to odd exponents and vice versa. If one could design this from a clean sheet, I think a short form where billion = 10^6, trillion = 10^9 would make the most sense, as it logically names numbers that one might encounter. Scientists who need huge numbers will use scientific notation or phrases such as gigadollars.

seszett 11y ago

As the sibling comment says, I think you somehow missed the -iard words. Since the words larger than thousand that are used most often (at this time) are million and milliard/billion, I like the way milliard is very different from million and at the same time, in French, follows a kind of natural progression from mille, million, milliard.