Long scale is better than short scale

Hi!

It's been a bit since I've posted anything quite as substantial, so here we go!

I was brought up with what we were led to believe was the "British/French" system of numbers, known as "long scale", which many countries still use, as opposed to the "American/German" version, which apparently Britain now uses, also known as "short scale".

The difference? The powers of ten:

10^n	1000^n	Short scale	Million^n	Long scale, -ard	Long scale, thousand
3	1	Thousand	0.5	Thousand	Thousand
6	2	Million	1	Million	Million
9	3	Billion	1.5	Milliard	Thousand million
12	4	Trillion	2	Billion	Billion
15	5	Quadrillion	2.5	Billiard	Thousand billion
18	6	Quintillion	3	Trillion	Trillion
21	7	Sextillion	3.5	Trilliard	Thousand trillion
24	8	Septillion	4	Quadrillion	Quadrillion
27	9	Octillion	4.5	Quadrilliard	Thousand quadrillion
30	10	Nonillion	5	Quintillion	Quintillion
33	11	Decillion	5.5	Quintilliard	Thousand quintillion
36	12	Undecillion	6	Sextillion	Sextillion
39	13	Dodecillion	6.5	Sextilliard	Thousand sextillion
42	14	Tredecillion	7	Septillion	Septillion
45	15	Quattuordecillion	7.5	Septilliard	Thousand septillion
48	16	Quindecillion	8	Octillion	Octillion
51	17	Sexdecillion	8.5	Octilliard	Thousand octillion
54	18	Septendecillion	9	Nonillion	Nonillion
57	19	Octodecillion	9.5	Nonilliard	Thousand nonillion
60	20	Novemdecillion	10	Decillion	Decillion

...etc.

The details of this table is probably my best backup as to why I prefer long scale to short scale.

As you can see, the long scale directly comes from the Latin of the power of a million, but short scale comes from what seems to be a hack: "a thousand times the power of a thousand"? "One less than the power of a thousand"?

If you're intent on using a thousands-based system, I have suggested a "power of a thousand" name below,with the added benefit that it divides directly into the long scale without having to add such a "hack factor"!

10^n	1000^n	Silly name
3	1	Thousand
6	2	Bisand
9	3	Trisand
12	4	Quadsand
15	5	Quintsand
18	6	Sexsand
21	7	Septsand
24	8	Octsand
27	9	Nonsand
30	10	Decsand
33	11	Undecsand
36	12	Dodecsand
39	13	Tredecsand
42	14	Quattuordecsand
45	15	Quindecsand
48	16	Sexdecsand
51	17	Sepdecsand
54	18	Octdecsand
57	19	Nondecsand
60	20	Viginsand

This is obviously very tongue-in-cheek, but it's one of the times that a common usage of numbers (which I like very much) has disappointed me.

Till next time.

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Long scale is better than short scale

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