[Clegane]

Ok, my question regards numbers in 40k. Now I know the last time I was in the UK you guys still used the Imperial system like Miles and and a rather archaic but cool system of weighing in stones. But my question actually regards millions versus billions as far numbering system goes from what I understand it was different but has changed so when I hear a million worlds in books is it different interpretation, like Milliards is a very unfamiliar term to me as an American. I am only curious if some of the details are changed in translation.

 

[Giant Fossil Penguin]

A billion is different, as far as I'm aware, if counted by the American, or British system (which might actually be the metric system vs Imperial, I'm not sure). Anyway, again this is what seems to be the case in my mind, Brits would count 1 billion as being 1 million million; Americans would count 1 billion as 1 thousand million. That's a hell of a difference. I think it is the American definition that has taken prefrence, which seems a bit odd to me, sort of devaluing the billion by making it a hell of a lot smaller.
All of that said, I could be wrong on this.

GFP

 

[Baron Spikey]

No you're right GFP, the American Billion is pretty much the norm in Britain these days, for once it's one of those American conventions that is supplanting it's British alternative that I fully support, it make's more sense that a thousand million would be a billion- a thousand is obviously 1 thousand single units of measurment, a million is 1,000 thousand. It's just more intuitive in my opinion.

Stones aren't weird- it's just 14 pounds, rather than saying something weights 140lbs we say it weighs 10 stone, no different than using ft instead of just inches.

 

[Clegane]

No you're right GFP, the American Billion is pretty much the norm in Britain these days, for once it's one of those American conventions that is supplanting it's British alternative that I fully support, it make's more sense that a thousand million would be a billion- a thousand is obviously 1 thousand single units of measurment, a million is 1,000 thousand. It's just more intuitive in my opinion.

Stones aren't weird- it's just 14 pounds, rather than saying something weights 140lbs we say it weighs 10 stone, no different than using ft instead of just inches.

I didn't mean to imply that it was weird to use stones Just that is was different! I figured that UK used the American system now days but when I see the intro to most 40k novels says to live in the Imperial regime is "one of untold billions" (Close to that at least) Which seems weird because I think the Imperium has trillions of citizens. So I was just curious.