"billion" meaning 10^12 was the norm in the English speaking world outside of the US up until the 80s/90s - I think that, at least for money, the American billion gets used, while the English billion wasn't very useful and so never got used - which is why the English billion dropped from use
What you refer to English billion (a million millions, rather than a thousand million s) is used in Europe instead of American billion. An European billion is an American trillion.
Yes - my point though is that usage of the American billion has taken over in the English speaking world largely because there is seldom a need for something the size of the English (or European ) one (except maybe for the American defence budget)
Can confirm, for French at least — “milliard” is exclusively used for 10^9, even for money. 10^12 is “billion” technically, but “mille milliards” is IME way more common.
Comments
"billion" meaning 10^12 was the norm in the English speaking world outside of the US up until the 80s/90s - I think that, at least for money, the American billion gets used, while the English billion wasn't very useful and so never got used - which is why the English billion dropped from use
What you refer to English billion (a million millions, rather than a thousand million s) is used in Europe instead of American billion. An European billion is an American trillion.
Yes - my point though is that usage of the American billion has taken over in the English speaking world largely because there is seldom a need for something the size of the English (or European ) one (except maybe for the American defence budget)
Can confirm, for French at least — “milliard” is exclusively used for 10^9, even for money. 10^12 is “billion” technically, but “mille milliards” is IME way more common.