What is the difference between short scale and long scale?

In the short scale, each new name is a thousand times the previous one, so a billion is 10^9. In the long scale, each new name is a million times the previous one, so a billion (milliard) is 10^9 but a long-scale billion is 10^12. English uses the short scale; much of continental Europe uses the long scale.

How many zeros does a trillion have?

In the short scale a trillion is 10^12, written with 12 zeros (1,000,000,000,000). In the long scale a trillion is 10^18. The table shows both so you can avoid the common mismatch.

A googol is 10^100 — a 1 followed by 100 zeros. It is not part of the standard naming series but is included for reference, as is the googolplex (10 to the power of a googol).

Why do countries disagree on billion?

Historically France and Britain used the long scale, while the United States used the short scale. The UK officially switched to the short scale in 1974, so English now uses 10^9 for a billion almost everywhere, but many European languages keep the long scale.

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Large Number Names Reference

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Naming the large numbers

Large numbers have standard names, but two competing systems — the short scale and the long scale — assign different values to the same word past a million. This reference lists the names from million to centillion with the power of ten each represents in both systems, plus a search.

How it works

In the short scale, used across English-speaking countries, each successive name is 1,000 times larger than the last: million 10^6, billion 10^9, trillion 10^12, and so on. In the long scale, used in much of continental Europe, each named step is 1,000,000 times larger, so the long-scale billion is 10^12 and a milliard fills the 10^9 slot. The table shows both powers side by side, and the search matches on name or exponent.

Notes and example

Short scale: each -illion adds three zeros (×1000) over the previous one.
Long scale: each -illion adds six zeros (×1,000,000); -illiard names sit between.
The UK officially adopted the short scale in 1974.
A googol (10^100) and googolplex sit outside the standard series but are listed.