South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-11-06

"A claims that a billion has ten
figures the world over; 10 says that
only in America and France it has
ten figures, and that in all other
countries it has thirteen, thus:
/ 900, 900. 700. Please Oblige Us
with an answer.-F. b. +.
Neither "a" nor "B" is quite right.
A billion has ten figures in France
and America, and their colonies. or
dependencies. and generally through
out Latin countries. 1t has thir-
teen figures in England and Ger
many. and generally. though not
univ ersally, in their colonies and de-
Tendencies. The first system will
certainly he the one finally TO sur
1--WE everywhere on account or its in
comparably greater utility and con-
venience.
There was a time. even after the
world became civilized in the modern
sense, when a million and its second
power sufficed for the convenient
modern. notation OF any number
practically used. even for astrono-
mical magnitudes, and it seems not
to have occurred TO the inventors of
the Anglo German billion. which is
million-m million, that men would
ever wish, or need. TO employ in or
binary mental operations such con-
ceptions Of number as are contained
in the terms trillions. quadrillions,
Quintillions, sextillions, etc.
These we're treated as virtual alb
stractions which simply suggested
vaguely. enormous, ungraspable
numbers. and under the rule by
which a billion was made to consist
of a million multiplied by itself or
raised to the second power. a trillion
became the third power Of Million
quadrillion the fourth power. and
so on, so that by a few leaps the
scale of Enumeration disappeared in
the clouds of incomprehensible inn
mensity.
To see how this system works, and
how it renders everything above 4
/ trilliOn, or at most a quadrillion, ut
terly unmanageable, apply the rule
/ a few successive times. Thus a bill
| lion (Anglo-G Germany. equals 1900
/ 600 100000, or 1000, OOO,O OO.-
600; trillion equals 100000 l.
| 600. 900 100000. or 100000
/ 600, 600. O0O.0 900: and so on. a sextil-
/ lion becoming a row OF thirty seven
/ figures. while a vigintillion. the high
est named mineral period, contains
a hundred and twenty-one figures
/ being a million raised to the TWEEN
/ tieth power!
on the other hand, the Franco
! American system uses 1000 instead
/ of 900. 900 for the base in calculat-
/ ing the higher periods. a billion be-
/ ing the second power of 1000. tril-
lion the third power Of 1000. etc, SC
that the higher periods. up 10 quin-
tilliOns, or even seNtillions. are man
aseable and. SO 10 speak, disable
/ For instance. the weight of the earth
in tons is expressed !n sextillions or
this system. whereas by the other
system il must be expressed in the
| relatively cumbrous form of thou
sands of trillions." our system alsC
avoids the inconvenient break made
by the other at the point where ter
Is exchanged TOT lnOuSanI as ll'
/ basal number whose successive pow
ers are thenceforth 10 denote tbs
I numeral periods in rising order
Thus 100 is 1Ox1O. and l 1000 is 100
1Ox1O. or 10Ox1O. but beyond 1000
the tens are no longed used as fac
tors. but a Jump is made 10 1000 az
the base. and that l. employed bu'
once. viz. to form a million by tax
! ing the second power OF l 900. The
very next step consists in abandon
I ing the thousand and substituting
the million. thus vastly increas
/ ing the interval between the follow.
ing periods. so that in order 10 in
dictate convenient intermediate mum
bers between a million and a billion
! CEngliSh) one j. obliged 10 employ
such locutions as thousands Of mil
lions tens Of THOUSAND OF mil
/ Ecls." hundreds Of thousands o.
! millions" just for lack of the losica
intervening stop that is neatly fur
nished bv the French billion.
1t Is true that our system Oh'
French) also changes its base. but i
does so only once. Wis. from tens o