WI Epsilon Indi B in Solar System

wrote:
Ba is allegedly 47 Jupiter masses and 1,3 milliards of years old.

Is "milliard" a generally accepted English term for "billion" now?

That would be interesting - I'm from Denmark, and in Danish the word
for "billion" is in fact "milliard"...

- Tue

"Tue Sorensen" wrote in message
ups.com...
wrote:
Ba is allegedly 47 Jupiter masses and 1,3 milliards of years old.

Is "milliard" a generally accepted English term for
"billion" now?

No it is not. People in the UK might understand it but North Americans will
not.


*** Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com ***

::: Ba is allegedly 47 Jupiter masses and 1,3 milliards of years old.

:: Is "milliard" a generally accepted English term for "billion" now?

: No it is not. People in the UK might understand it
: but North Americans will not.

fx gesture="hesitantly raises hand" Um. I understood it./fx
And last I knew, I lived in North America and all.
See, the "1,3" put me in a european frame of mind.

Though quite possibly *most* norams would not.
On some other appendage, google-enhanced norams would
not have a particular problem with it.


Wayne Throop http://sheol.org/throopw

In rec.arts.sf.science Tue Sorensen wrote:
wrote:
Ba is allegedly 47 Jupiter masses and 1,3 milliards of years old.

Is "milliard" a generally accepted English term for "billion" now?

That would be interesting - I'm from Denmark, and in Danish the word
for "billion" is in fact "milliard"...

French, too.

I'm guessing this might be used because "billion" is ambiguous. It is
generally accepted as meaning 1e9, but my understanding is that in the
not-too-distant past in the UK, it meant 1e12. Hence why you often see the
term "thousand million" in texts which need to be exact, and presumably
why a completely unfamiliar but less ambiguous word might possibly be
preferable.

--
Michael Ash
Rogue Amoeba Software

"Michael Ash" wrote in message
...
In rec.arts.sf.science Tue Sorensen
wrote:
wrote:

That would be interesting - I'm from Denmark,
and in Danish the word
for "billion" is in fact "milliard"...

French, too.

I'm guessing this might be used because
"billion" is ambiguous. It is
generally accepted as meaning 1e9, but my
understanding is that in the
not-too-distant past in the UK, it meant 1e12.
Hence why you often see the
term "thousand million" in texts which need to
be exact, and presumably
why a completely unfamiliar but less ambiguous
word might possibly be
preferable.


I recall reading a well-known Ian Fleming book
(late 1950s or early '60s) in which Goldfinger
(while plotting to rob Fort Knox) thinks it
necessary to tell the British among his
confederates that "- - there are differing ideas
as to what constitutes a billion. I am using it in
the sense of one thousand million".

Probably about the last time this had to be
specified.
--
Mike Stone - Peterborough, England


It is so stupid of modern civilisation to have
given up believing in the
Devil, when he is its only explanation.

Ronald Knox.

Tue Sorensen wrote:

Is "milliard" a generally accepted English term for "billion" now?

That would be interesting - I'm from Denmark, and in Danish the word
for "billion" is in fact "milliard"...

My understanding is that it's kind of out of fashion. It might be
recognized in UK but most North Americans wouldn't recognize the term.
I believe that the UK the use of _billion_ is more and more commonly
conforming to the usage of North Americans, e.g., 10^9, not 10^12.

--
Erik Max Francis && && http://www.alcyone.com/max/
San Jose, CA, USA && 37 20 N 121 53 W && AIM erikmaxfrancis
Give me liberty or give me death.
-- Patrick Henry