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Traditional American usage (which was also adapted from French usage but at a later date), Canadian, and modern British usage assign new names for each power of one thousand (the short scale). Thus, a billion is 1000 × 1000 2 = 10 9; a trillion is 1000 × 1000 3 = 10 12; and so forth.
The metric ton is the name used for the tonne (1000 kg, 2 204.622 62 lb), which is 1.58% less than the long ton and is 10.23% more than the short ton. The US customary system also includes the kip , equivalent to 1,000 pounds of force, which is also occasionally used as a unit of weight of 1,000 pounds (usually in engineering contexts).
1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or 10 9 (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is now the most common sense of the word in all varieties of English; it has long been established in American English and has since become common in Britain and other English-speaking countries as well. [1] [2] [3]
For identical names, the long scale grows by multiples of one million (10 6), whereas the short scale grows by multiples of one thousand (10 3). For example, the short scale billion is one thousand million (10 9), whereas in the long scale, billion is one million million (10 12). The long scale system includes additional names for interleaved ...
One billion years may be called an eon in astronomy or geology. Previously in British English (but not in American English), the word "billion" referred exclusively to a million millions (1,000,000,000,000). However, this is not common anymore, and the word has been used to mean one thousand million (1,000,000,000) for several decades. [5]
Both systems are derived from English units, an older system of units which had evolved over the millennia before American independence, and which had its roots in both Roman and Anglo-Saxon units. The customary system was championed by the U.S.-based International Institute for Preserving and Perfecting Weights and Measures in the late 19th ...
The US Customary system of units was developed and used in the United States after the American Revolution, based on a subset of the English units used in the Thirteen Colonies; it is the predominant system of units in the United States and in U.S. territories (except for Puerto Rico and Guam, where the metric system, which was introduced when ...
Harbour ton, used in South Africa in the 20th century, was equivalent to (2,000 pounds (907 kg)) or 1 short ton. Assay ton (abbreviation 'AT') is not a unit of measurement but a standard quantity used in assaying ores of precious metals. A short assay ton is approximately 29.17 g (1.029 oz) and a long assay ton is approximately 32.67 g (1.152 oz).