[plug] billion (was Unix Epoch: 1 billion seconds breakfast function.)

[Steve Grasso]

On Monday 03 September 2001 11:57, Andrew Francis wrote:
> On Mon, 3 Sep 2001, John Knight wrote:
> > Time for my usual rant of pedantry, but would this be an English or an
> > American billion? I've always been quite puzzled by this as according to
> > the dictionary, a billion is 10 to the power of 12 (a million millions)
> > unless you live in America or France where it is 10 to the power of 9 (a
> > thousand millions).
>
> France is the home of the metric system, so I guess it makes sense to
> follow their lead when it comes to expressing quantities.

Interesting, since America does not. Except for their 10 to the power of 9 
billions AFAIK.

Steve