Naming Very Large Numbers in One Step
(Counting from one to a millinillion)

Stephen P. Morse, San Francisco





This page is a calculator for determining the names of very large numbers in the form of 1 followed by a string of zeros.
You select the number of zeros and the calculator reports the name of the number.
For example, if you select "7" zeros, the calculator reports "ten million."

You can also select the name of the number and the calculator reports the number of zeros.


1 followed by zeros    =   



   

short scale (American System)     long scale (British System)    



Note 1: Short and Long Scales
There are two naming systems for large numbers -- the short scale (referred to as the American System) and the long scale (referred to as the British System). In the short scale, a billion is a thousand million, a trillion is a thousand billion, etc. In the long scale, a billion is a million million, a trillion is a million billion, etc. The long scale is no longer used in Britain but it is still used in most countries in continental Europe, as well as most countries in the world that are French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, or Portuguese-speaking.

Note 2: Pelletier Long Scale (illiards)
There is yet another naming system called the Pelletier long scale (referred to as the European System). This is a long-scale system in which a thousand million is referred to as a milliard, a thousand billion as a billiard, etc.

Note 3: Reverse Ordering
Latin names for numbers are written with the units coming last, the tens just before that, the hundreds just before that, etc, just like in English. But when naming large numbers (the illions), the ordering is reversed with the units coming first, then the tens, then the hundreds, etc. For example, three hundred seventy five in Latin is trecenti (three hundred) septuaginta (seventy) quinque (five), but when naming large numbers it is quin (five) septaginta (seventy) trecenti (three hundred) illion.

Note 4: Googol Notation
Although not used in the names presented here, 1 followed by 100 zeros is comically referred to as a googol, 1 followed by a googol zeros as a googolplex, and 1 followed by a googolpex zeros as a googolplexplex. Some alternative names for googolplexplex are googolplexian and googolduplex. The term googolduplex leads to the obvious extensions of googoltriplex (1 followed by a googolduplex zeros), googolquadraplex, etc. I guess there's no end to this madness.

Note 5: Dashes
The dashes appearing in the names presented here are not part of the name. They are included to improve readability.

Note 6: Trecentillion Ambiguity
Trecentillion in short scale is both 1 followed by 312 zeros and 1 followed by 903 zeros. Similarly, in long scale it is both 1 followed by 618 zeros and 1 followed by 1800 zeros. This is not a bug in the calculator but rather an ambiguity in Latin.

Note 7: Exponential Notation
In scientific E notation (also called exponential notation), 1 followed by x zeros is 1Ex (i.e., 1000 is 1E3).

Data presented here comes from
wikipedia
Landon Curt Noll
Robert Munafo
IX23 for the trecentillion ambiguity
© Stephen P. Morse, 2024