Editing Long and short scales (section)

==History==
Although this situation has been developing since the 1200s, the first recorded use of the terms ''short scale'' ({{langx|fr|échelle courte}}) and ''long scale'' ({{langx|fr|échelle longue}}) was by the French mathematician [[Geneviève Guitel]] in 1975.<ref name="Guitel1" /><ref name="Guitel2" />

The short scale was never widespread before its general adoption in the United States. It has been taught in American schools since the early 1800s.<ref name="Smith" /> It has since become common in other [[English-speaking world|English-speaking]] nations and several other countries. For most of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the [[United Kingdom]] largely used the long scale,<ref name="pilatol1">{{cite book
 |url= https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=billion%2Cthousand+million%2Cmilliard&year_start=1808&year_end=1967&corpus=18&smoothing=3&share=
 |title= British-English usage of 'Billion vs Thousand million vs Milliard'
 |via= Google Books ngram viewer
 |publisher= [[Google]] Inc
 |access-date= 26 April 2014
}}</ref><ref name="fowler">
{{Cite book
 |last= Fowler
 |first= H. W.
 |author-link= Henry Watson Fowler
 |title= A Dictionary of Modern English Usage
 |publisher= [[Oxford University Press]]
 |year= 1926
 |location= Great Britain
 |pages= 52–53 <!-- on the actual book it is this page, on the google book it is page 169 -->
 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hrtIDakUpA4C&q=billion&pg=PT169
 |isbn= 978-0-19-860506-5}}
</ref> whereas the [[United States]] used the short scale,<ref name="fowler" /> so that the two systems were often referred to as ''British'' and ''American'' in the [[English language]]. After several decades of increasing informal British usage of the short scale, in 1974 the government of the UK adopted it,<ref name="haroldwilson">
{{cite web
 |title= "BILLION" (DEFINITION) — HC Deb 20 December 1974 vol 883 cc711W–712W
 |work= Hansard Written Answers
 |publisher= [[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]
 |date= 20 December 1972
 |url= https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1974/dec/20/billion-definition#S5CV0883P0_19741220_CWA_439
 |access-date= 2 April 2009}}
</ref> and it is used for all official purposes.<ref name="odonnell">
{{Cite news
 |last= O'Donnell
 |first= Frank
 |title= Britain's £1 trillion debt mountain – How many zeros is that?
 |newspaper= [[The Scotsman]]
 |date= 30 July 2004
 |url= http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Britains-1-trillion-debt-mountain.2550147.jp
 |access-date= 31 January 2008}}
</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/more_or_less/6625545.stm|title=Who wants to be a trillionaire?|date=7 May 2007|work=BBC News|access-date=11 May 2010|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref name="comrie">
{{Cite mailing list
 |last= Comrie
 |first= Bernard
 |author-link= Bernard Comrie
 |title= billion:summary
 |mailing-list= Linguist List
 |date= 24 March 1996
 |url= https://linguistlist.org/issues/7/7-451
 |access-date= 24 July 2011}}
</ref><ref name="oxford">
{{cite web
 |title= Oxford Dictionaries: How many is a billion?
 |publisher= Oxford University Press
 |url= https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/explore/how-many-is-a-billion/
 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170112163426/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/explore/how-many-is-a-billion
 |url-status= dead
 |archive-date= 12 January 2017
 |access-date= 7 May 2018}}
</ref><ref name="oxford2">
{{cite web
 |title= Oxford Dictionaries: Billion
 |publisher= Oxford University Press
 |url= http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/billion
 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110811080212/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/billion
 |url-status= dead
 |archive-date= 11 August 2011
 |access-date= 24 July 2011}}
</ref><ref name="nielsen">
{{Cite book
 |last= Nielsen
 |first= Ron
 |title= The Little Green Handbook
 |publisher= [[Macmillan Publishers]]
 |year= 2006
 |page= [https://archive.org/details/littlegreenhandb00ronn/page/290 290]
 |url= https://archive.org/details/littlegreenhandb00ronn/page/290
 |isbn= 978-0-312-42581-4
 |url-access= registration
 }}</ref> The British usage and American usage are now identical.

The existence of the different scales means that care must be taken when comparing large numbers between languages or countries, or when interpreting old documents in countries where the dominant scale has changed over time. For example, British English, French, and Italian historical documents can refer to either the short or long scale, depending on the date of the document, since each of the three countries has used both systems at various times in its history. Today, the United Kingdom officially uses the short scale, but [[France]] and [[Italy]] use the long scale.

The pre-1974 former British English word ''billion'', post-1961 current French word ''billion'', post-1994 current Italian word ''bilione'', Spanish ''billón'', German ''Billion'', Dutch ''biljoen'', Danish ''billion'', Swedish ''biljon'', Finnish ''biljoona'', Slovenian ''bilijon'', Polish ''bilion'', and European Portuguese word ''bilião'' (with a different spelling to the Brazilian Portuguese variant, but in Brazil referring to short scale) all refer to 10<sup>12</sup>, being long-scale terms. Therefore, each of these words translates to the American English or post-1974 British English word: ''trillion'' (10<sup>12</sup> in the short scale), and '''not''' ''billion'' (10<sup>9</sup> in the short scale).

On the other hand, the pre-1961 former French word ''billion'', pre-1994 former Italian word ''bilione'', Brazilian Portuguese word ''bilhão'', and Welsh word ''biliwn'' all refer to 10<sup>9</sup>, being short scale terms. Each of these words translates to the American English or post-1974 British English word ''billion'' (10<sup>9</sup> in the short scale).

The term ''billion'' originally meant 10<sup>12</sup> when introduced.<ref name="Smith" /> In long scale countries, ''milliard'' was defined to its current value of 10<sup>9</sup>, leaving ''billion'' at its original 10<sup>12</sup> value and so on for the larger numbers.<ref name="Smith" /> Some of these countries, but not all, introduced new words ''billiard'', ''trilliard'', etc. as intermediate terms.<ref name="wortschatz_milliarde" /><ref name="wortschatz_billion" /><ref name="wortschatz_billiarde" /><ref name="wortschatz_trilliarde" /><ref name="it_gov" /> In some short scale countries, ''milliard'' was defined to 10<sup>9</sup> and ''billion'' dropped altogether, with ''trillion'' redefined down to 10<sup>12</sup> and so on for the larger numbers.<ref name="Smith" /> In many short scale countries, ''milliard'' was dropped altogether and ''billion'' was redefined down to 10<sup>9</sup>, adjusting downwards the value of ''trillion'' and all the larger numbers.

The root ''mil'' in ''million'' does not refer to the numeral, ''1''<!--why would one think it might?-->. The word, ''million'', derives from the Old French, ''milion'', from the earlier Old Italian, ''milione'', an intensification of the Latin word, ''mille'', a thousand. That is, a ''million'' is a ''big thousand'', much as a ''[[great gross]]'' is a dozen gross or 12 × 144 = [[1728 (number)|1728]].<ref name="Smith">
{{Cite book
 |last= Smith
 |first= David Eugene
 |author-link= David Eugene Smith
 |title= History of Mathematics
 |publisher= [[Dover Publications|Courier Dover Publications]]
 |volume= II
 |orig-year= first published 1925
 |date= 1953
 |pages= 81
 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=uTytJGnTf1kC&pg=PA81
 |isbn= 978-0-486-20430-7
 }}</ref>

The word ''milliard'', or its translation, is found in many European languages and is used in those languages for 10<sup>9</sup>. However, it is not found in American English, which uses ''billion'', and not used in British English, which preferred to use ''thousand million'' before the current usage of ''billion''. The financial term ''yard'', which derives from ''milliard'', is used on financial markets, as, unlike the term ''billion'', it is internationally unambiguous and phonetically distinct from ''million''. Likewise, many long scale countries use the word ''billiard'' (or similar) for one thousand long scale billions (i.e., 10<sup>15</sup>), and the word ''trilliard'' (or similar) for one thousand long scale trillions (i.e., 10<sup>21</sup>), etc.<ref name="wortschatz_milliarde">
{{cite web|title=Wortschatz-Lexikon: Milliarde|publisher=[[Universität Leipzig]]: Wortschatz-Lexikon|language=de|url=http://wortschatz.uni-leipzig.de/cgi-bin/wort_www.exe?site=1&Wort=Milliarde|access-date=19 August 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927052529/http://wortschatz.uni-leipzig.de/cgi-bin/wort_www.exe?site=1&Wort=Milliarde|archive-date=27 September 2011}}</ref><ref name="wortschatz_billion">
{{cite web|title=Wortschatz-Lexikon: Billion|publisher=Universität Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon|language=de|url=http://wortschatz.uni-leipzig.de/cgi-bin/wort_www.exe?site=1&Wort=Billion|access-date=19 August 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807144431/http://wortschatz.uni-leipzig.de/cgi-bin/wort_www.exe?site=1&Wort=Billion|archive-date=7 August 2011}}</ref><ref name="wortschatz_billiarde">
{{cite web|title=Wortschatz-Lexikon: Billiarde|publisher=Universität Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon|language=de|url=http://wortschatz.uni-leipzig.de/cgi-bin/wort_www.exe?site=1&Wort=Billiarde|access-date=28 July 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927052446/http://wortschatz.uni-leipzig.de/cgi-bin/wort_www.exe?site=1&Wort=Billiarde|archive-date=27 September 2011}}</ref><ref name="wortschatz_trilliarde">
{{cite web|title=Wortschatz-Lexikon: Trilliarde|publisher=Universität Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon|language=de|url=http://wortschatz.uni-leipzig.de/cgi-bin/wort_www.exe?site=1&Wort=Trilliarde|access-date=28 July 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927052502/http://wortschatz.uni-leipzig.de/cgi-bin/wort_www.exe?site=1&Wort=Trilliarde|archive-date=27 September 2011}}</ref><ref name="it_gov">
{{cite web
 |title= Direttiva CEE / CEEA / CE 1994 n. 55, p.12
 |language= it
 |publisher= [[Politics of Italy|Italian Government]]
 |date= 21 November 1994
 |url= http://www.frareg.com/news/legislazione/ambiente/direttiva_1994_55_CE.pdf
 |access-date= 24 July 2011}}
</ref>

;Timeline
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
|-
! style="width:6%; vertical-align:top;"|&nbsp;Date
! style="width:94%; vertical-align:top;"|&nbsp;Event
|-
|valign="top"| 13th century
| The word ''million'' was not used in any language before the 13th century. The monk and polymath [[Maximus Planudes]] ({{circa|lk=no|1260}}–1305) was among the first recorded users of the word to document Mediterranean trade between Constantinople and Italian states.<ref name="Smith" /> Over the next two centuries, the term became widely accepted and was adopted by other Italian states, France and other European countries.
|-
|valign="top"|Late 14th century
| [[File:Piers Plowman.jpg|thumb|upright|{{center|''[[Piers Plowman]]'', a 17th-century copy of the original 14th-century allegorical narrative poem by [[William Langland|William&nbsp;Langland]]}}]] The word ''million'' entered the English language. One of the earliest references is [[William Langland]]'s ''[[Piers Plowman]]'' (written {{circa|lk=no|1360}}–1387 in [[Middle English]]),<ref name="Smith" /> with
{{blockquote|{{lang|enm|Coueyte not his goodes<br>For millions of moneye}}}}

'''Translation''':
{{blockquote|Covet not his goods<br>for millions of money}}
|-
|valign="top"|1475
|French [[mathematician]] [[Jehan Adam]], writing in [[Middle French]], recorded the words ''bymillion'' and ''trimillion'' as meaning 10<sup>12</sup> and 10<sup>18</sup> respectively in a manuscript ''Traicté en arismetique pour la practique par gectouers'', now held in the [[Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève]] in [[Paris]].<ref name="traicte">{{Cite book
 |last= Adam
 |first= Jehan
 |author-link= Jehan Adam
 |title= Traicté en arismetique pour la practique par gectouers... (MS 3143)
 |publisher= [[Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève]]
 |place= Paris
 |year= 1475
 |language= frm
 }}
</ref><ref name="bsg">{{cite web
 |url= http://www-bsg.univ-paris1.fr/ExposVirtuelles/exposvirtuellesreserves/sciences/savants2.htm
 |title= HOMMES DE SCIENCE, LIVRES DE SAVANTS A LA BIBLIOTHÈQUE SAINTE-GENEVIÈVE, Livres de savants II
 |year= 2005
 |work= Traicté en arismetique pour la practique par gectouers…
 |publisher= Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève
 |access-date= 25 October 2014
 |language= fr
 |archive-date= 25 October 2014
 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141025140206/http://www-bsg.univ-paris1.fr/ExposVirtuelles/exposvirtuellesreserves/sciences/savants2.htm
 |url-status= dead
 }}</ref><ref>
{{Cite journal
 |last= Thorndike
 |first= Lynn
 |author-link= Lynn Thorndike
 |title= The Arithmetic of Jehan Adam, 1475 A.D
 |journal= The American Mathematical Monthly
 |year= 1926
 |volume= 1926
 |issue= January
 |pages= 24–28
 |publisher= [[Mathematical Association of America]]
 |doi= 10.2307/2298533
 |jstor= 2298533
 }}</ref>

{{blockquote|{{lang|frm|... item noctes que le premier greton dembas vault ung, le second vault dix, le trois vault cent, le quart {{sic|vult}} mille, le Ve vault dix M, le VIe vault cent M, le VIIe vault Milion, Le VIIIe vault dix Million, Le IXe vault cent Millions, Le Xe vault Mil Millions, Le XIe vault dix mil Millions, Le XIIe vault Cent mil Millions, Le XIIIe vault bymillion, Le XIIIIe vault dix bymillions, Le XVe vault {{sic|cent mil}} bymillions, Le XVIe vault mil bymillions, Le XVIIe vault dix Mil bymillions, Le XVIIIe vault cent mil bymillions, Le XIXe vault trimillion, Le XXe vault dix trimillions ...|italic=unset}}}}

'''Translation''':
{{blockquote|... Likewise, note that the first counter from the bottom is worth one, the 2nd is worth ten, the 3rd is worth one hundred, the 4th is worth one thousand, the 5th is worth ten thousand, the 6th is worth one hundred thousand, the 7th is worth a million, the 8th is worth ten millions, the 9th is worth one hundred millions, the 10th is worth one thousand millions, the 11th is worth ten thousand millions, the 12th is worth one hundred thousand million, the 13th is worth a bymillion, the 14th is worth ten bymillions, the 15th is worth one {{bracket|hundred}} bymillions, the 16th is worth one thousand bymillions, the 17th is worth ten thousand bymillions, the 18th is worth hundred thousand bymillions, the 19th is worth a trimillion, the 20th is worth ten trimillions ...}}
|-
| valign="top"|1484
|[[File:Chuquet.gif|thumb|right|{{center|''Le Triparty en la Science des Nombres par Maistre Nicolas Chuquet Parisien''<br> an extract from Chuquet's original 1484 manuscript}}]] French mathematician [[Nicolas Chuquet]], in his article ''Le Triparty en la Science des Nombres par Maistre Nicolas Chuquet Parisien'',<ref name="Chuquet1">
{{Cite journal
 |last= Chuquet
 |first= Nicolas
 |author-link= Nicolas Chuquet
 |title= Le Triparty en la Science des Nombres par Maistre Nicolas Chuquet Parisien
 |journal= Bulletino di Bibliographia e di Storia delle Scienze Matematische e Fisische
 |volume= XIII
 |issue= 1880
 |pages= 593–594
 |publisher= [[Aristide Marre]]
 |location= Bologna
 |date= 1880
 |orig-year= written 1484
 |language= frm
 |url= http://www.miakinen.net/vrac/nombres#lettres_zillions
 |issn= 1123-5209
 |access-date= 17 July 2011
}}</ref><ref name="Chuquet2">
{{cite web
 |last= Chuquet
 |first= Nicolas
 |author-link= Nicolas Chuquet
 |title= Le Triparty en la Science des Nombres par Maistre Nicolas Chuquet Parisien
 |publisher= miakinen.net
 |language= frm
 |url= http://www.miakinen.net/vrac/nombres#lettres_zillions
 |access-date= 1 March 2008
 |date= 1880
 |orig-year= written 1484
}}</ref><ref name="Flegg">{{Cite journal
 |last= Flegg
 |first= Graham
 |title= Tracing the origins of One, Two, Three.
 |journal= [[New Scientist]]
 |volume= 72
 |issue= 1032
 |page= 747
 |publisher= [[Reed Business Information]]
 |date= 23–30 December 1976
 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=obHSBCxiJ1YC&pg=PA747
 |issn= 0262-4079
 |access-date= 17 July 2011
 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> used the words ''byllion,'' ''tryllion,'' ''quadrillion,'' ''quyllion,'' ''sixlion,'' ''septyllion,'' ''ottyllion,'' and ''nonyllion'' to refer to 10<sup>12</sup>, 10<sup>18</sup>, ... 10<sup>54</sup>. Most of the work was copied without attribution by [[Estienne de La Roche]] and published in his 1520 book, ''[[L'arismetique]]''.<ref name="Chuquet1" /> Chuquet's original article was rediscovered in the 1870s and then published for the first time in 1880.

{{blockquote|{{lang|frm|...[preder s'] Item l'on doit savoir que ung million vault<br>mille milliers de unitez, et ung byllion vault mille<br>milliers de millions, et [ung] tryllion vault mille milliers<br>de byllions, et ung quadrillion vault mille milliers de<br>tryllions et ainsi des aultres : Et de ce en est pose ung<br>exemple nombre divise et punctoye ainsi que devant est<br>dit, tout lequel nombre monte 745324 tryllions<br>804300 byllions 700023 millions 654321.<br>Exemple : 745324'8043000'700023'654321 ...}} {{sic}}}}

'''Translation''':
{{blockquote|...likewise, one should know that a million is worth<br>a thousand thousand units, and a byllion is worth a thousand<br>thousand millions, and tryllion is worth a thousand thousand<br>byllions, and a quadrillion is worth a thousand thousand<br>tryllions, and so on for the others. And an example of this follows,<br>a number divided up and punctuated as previously<br>described, the whole number being 745324 tryllions,<br>804300 byllions 700023 millions 654321.<br>Example: 745324'8043000'700023'654321 ...{{sic}}}}

The extract from Chuquet's manuscript, the transcription and translation provided here all contain an original mistake: one too many zeros in the 804300 portion of the fully written out example: 745324'804300'''''0'''''&nbsp;'700023'654321 ...
|-
|valign="top"|1516
| [[File:Guillaume Budé, by Jean Clouet.jpg|thumb|upright|{{center|[[Guillaume Budé|Guilielmus Budaeus or Guillaume Budé]] (1467–1540)}}]] French mathematician Budaeus ([[Guillaume Budé]]), writing in Latin, used the term ''milliart'' to mean "ten myriad myriad" or 10<sup>9</sup> in his book ''De Asse et partibus eius Libri quinque''.<ref name="Bude">
{{Cite book
 |last= Budaeus
 |first= Guilielmus
 |author-link= Guillaume Budé
 |title= De Asse et partibus eius Libri quinque
 |year= 1516
 |pages= folio 93
 |language= la
 }}</ref>
{{blockquote|{{lang|la|.. hoc est decem myriadum myriadas:quod vno verbo nostrates abaci studiosi Milliartum appellant:quasi millionum millionem}}}}

'''Translation''':
{{blockquote|.. this is ten [[myriad]] myriads, which in one word our students of numbers call Milliart, as if a million millions}}
|-
| valign="top"|1549
| The influential French mathematician [[Jacques Pelletier du Mans]] used the name ''milliard'' (or ''milliart'') to mean 10<sup>12</sup>, attributing the term to the earlier usage by [[Guillaume Budé]]<ref name="Bude" />
|-
| valign="top"| 17th century
| With the increased usage of large numbers, the traditional punctuation of large numbers into six-digit groups evolved into three-digit group punctuation. In some places, the large number names were then applied to the smaller numbers, following the new punctuation scheme. Thus, in France and Italy, some scientists then began using ''billion'' to mean 10<sup>9</sup>, ''trillion'' to mean 10<sup>12</sup>, etc.<ref>{{cite book |last=Littré |first=Émile |author-link1=Émile Littré |date=1873–1874 |title=Dictionnaire de la langue française |url=http://www.littre.org/definition/billion |location=Paris, France |publisher=L. Hachette |page=347 |quote=Ce n'est qu'au milieu du XVIIe siècle qu'il fut réglé que les tranches, au lieu d'être de six en six chiffres, seraient de trois en trois chiffres; ce qui revint à diviser par 1000 l'ancien billion, l'ancien trillion, etc. [It was only in the middle of the 17th century that it was settled that the slices, instead of being from six to six digits, would be from three to three digits; which resulted in dividing by 1000 the old billion, the old trillion, and so on.]}}</ref> This usage formed the origins of the later short scale. The majority of scientists either continued to say ''thousand million'' or changed the meaning of the Pelletier term, ''milliard'', from "million of millions" down to "thousand million".<ref name="Smith"/> This meaning of ''milliard'' has been occasionally used in England,<ref name="fowler" /> but was widely adopted in France, Germany, Italy and the rest of Europe, for those keeping the original long scale billion from Adam, Chuquet and Pelletier.
|-
| valign="top"| 1676
|The first published use of ''milliard'' as 10<sup>9</sup> occurred in the Netherlands.<ref name="Smith" /><ref name="houck">{{Cite book
 |last= Houck
 |year= 1676
 |title= Arithmetic
 |location= Netherlands
 |page= 2
 }}</ref>
{{blockquote|{{lang|nl|.. milliart/ofte duysent millioenen..}}}}

'''Translation''':
{{blockquote|..milliart / also thousand millions..}}
|-
| valign="top"|1729
|The short-scale meaning of the term ''billion'' had already been brought to the British American colonies. The first American appearance of the short scale value of ''billion'' as 10<sup>9</sup> was published in the ''[[Greenwood Book]]'' of 1729, written anonymously by Prof. [[Isaac Greenwood]] of [[Harvard College]].<ref name="Smith" />
|-
| valign="top"|Late 18th century
|As early as 1762 (and through at least the early 20th century), the dictionary of the ''[[Académie française]]'' defined ''billion'' as a term of arithmetic meaning a thousand millions.<ref>{{cite book |author=<!--Les Académiciens de l'Académie Françoise--> |title=Dictionnaire de l'académie françoise |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0oM-AAAAcAAJ&q=Dictionnaire+de+l'Académie+Française&pg=PA1 |location=Paris, France |publisher=Institut de France |page=177 |date=1762 |edition= 4th}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=<!--Les Académiciens de l'Académie Française--> |title=Dictionnaire de l'Académie française |url=http://portail.atilf.fr/cgi-bin/dico1look.pl?strippedhw=billion&dicoid=ACAD1835&headword=&dicoid=ACAD1835 |location=Paris, France |page=189 |date=1835 | edition= 6th}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=<!--Les Académiciens de l'Académie Française--> |title=Dictionnaire de l'Académie française |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P2whAQAAMAAJ&q=Dictionnaire+de+l'Académie+Française&pg=PR23 |location=Paris, France |publisher=Institut de France |page=182 |date=1877 |edition= 7th}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=<!--Les Académiciens de l'Académie Française--> |title=Dictionnaire de l'Académie française |url=http://portail.atilf.fr/cgi-bin/dico1look.pl?strippedhw=billion&headword=&docyear=ALL&dicoid=ACAD1932&articletype=1 |location=Paris, France |publisher=Institut de France |page=144 |date=1932–1935|edition= 8th}}</ref>
|-
| valign="top"|Early 19th century
|France widely converted to the short scale, and was followed by the U.S., which began teaching it in schools. Many French encyclopedias of the 19th century either omitted the long scale system or called it "désormais obsolète", a now obsolete system. Nevertheless, by the mid 20th century France would officially convert back to the long scale.
|-
| valign="top"|1926
|[[File:FowlersModernEnglishUsageFrontispiece.jpg|thumb|upright|{{center|''[[A Dictionary of Modern English Usage]]''<br>by [[Henry Watson Fowler|H. W. Fowler]]}}]] [[Henry Watson Fowler|H. W. Fowler]]'s ''[[A Dictionary of Modern English Usage]]''<ref name="fowler" /> noted
{{blockquote|It should be remembered that "billion" does not mean in American use (which follows the French) what it means in British. For to us it means the second power of a million, i.e. a million millions ([[1000000000000 (number)|1,000,000,000,000]]); for Americans it means a thousand multiplied by itself twice, or a thousand millions ([[1000000000 (number)|1,000,000,000]]), what we call a ''milliard.'' Since ''billion'' in our sense is useless except to astronomers, it is a pity that we do not conform.}}

Although American English usage did not change, within the next 50 years, French usage changed from short scale to long, and British English usage changed from long scale to short.
|-
| valign="top"|1948
|The 9th [[General Conference on Weights and Measures]] received requests to establish an International System of Units. One such request was accompanied by a draft French Government discussion paper, which included a suggestion of universal use of the long scale, inviting the short-scale countries to return or convert.<ref name="si1948">
{{cite web
 |title= Resolution 6 of the 9th meeting of the CGPM (1948)
 |publisher= [[BIPM]]
 |url= http://www.bipm.org/en/CGPM/db/9/6/
 |access-date= 7 August 2011
}}</ref> This paper was widely distributed as the basis for further discussion. The matter of the International System of Units was eventually resolved at the 11th General Conference in 1960. The question of long scale versus short scale was not resolved and does not appear in the list of any conference resolutions.<ref name="si1948" /><ref name="si1954">
{{cite web
 |title= Resolution 6 of the 10th meeting of the CGPM (1954)
 |publisher= BIPM
 |url= http://www.bipm.org/en/CGPM/db/10/6/
 |access-date= 23 June 2012
}}</ref>
|-
| valign="top"|1960
|The 11th [[General Conference on Weights and Measures]] adopted the [[International System of Units]] (SI), with its own set of numeric prefixes.<ref name="si">
{{cite web
 |title= Resolution 12 of the 11th meeting of the CGPM (1960)
 |publisher= BIPM
 |url= http://www.bipm.org/jsp/en/ViewCGPMResolution.jsp?CGPM=11&RES=12
 |access-date= 28 July 2011
}}</ref> SI is therefore independent of the number scale being used. SI also notes the language-dependence of some larger-number names and advises against using ambiguous terms such as billion, trillion, etc.<ref>{{Cite book
 |title= The International System of Units (SI)
 |publisher= BIPM
 |edition= 8
 |date= May 2006
 |pages= 134 / 5.3.7 Stating values of dimensionless quantities, or quantities of dimension one
 |url= http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8_en.pdf
 |isbn= 92-822-2213-6
 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110725080532/http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8_en.pdf
 |archive-date= 25 July 2011
 |access-date= 24 July 2011
 |url-status= dead
 }}</ref> The [[National Institute of Standards and Technology]] within the US also considers that it is best that they be avoided entirely.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Thompson |first1= Ambler |last2= Taylor |first2= Barry N. |date= 30 March 2008 |title= Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI), NIST SP – 811 |journal= NIST |url= https://www.nist.gov/manuscript-publication-search.cfm?pub_id=200349 |location= US |publisher= National Institute of Standards and Technology |page= 21 |access-date= 13 September 2014
|archive-date=8 March 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308121012/https://www.nist.gov/publications/guide-use-international-system-units-si?pub_id=200349
|url-status=live
}}</ref>
|-
| valign="top"|1961
|The [[Cabinet of France|French Government]] confirmed their official usage of the long scale in the ''[[Journal officiel]]'' (the official French Government gazette).<ref name="fr_gov">
{{Cite journal|title=Décret 61-501|journal=Journal Officiel|pages=4587 note 3a, and erratum on page 7572|publisher=[[Cabinet of France|French Government]]|date=11 August 1961|language=fr|url=http://www.ensmp.net/pdf/1961/decr-61-0501.pdf|access-date=31 January 2008|orig-year=commissioned 3 May 1961 published 20 May 1961|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100120005624/http://www.ensmp.net/pdf/1961/decr-61-0501.pdf|archive-date=20 January 2010}}</ref>
|-
| valign="top"|1974
|[[File:Lord Harold Wilson Allan Warren.jpg|thumb|upright|{{center|[[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British prime minister]] [[Harold Wilson]]<br>(1916–1995)}}]] [[British prime minister]] [[Harold Wilson]] explained in a written answer to the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] that UK government [[statistics]] would from then on use the short scale,<ref name="odonnell" /> reported in [[Hansard]] for 20 December 1974:<ref name="haroldwilson" />

{{blockquote|[[Robin Maxwell-Hyslop|Mr. Maxwell-Hyslop]] asked the Prime Minister whether he would make it the practice of his administration that when Ministers employ the word 'billion' in any official speeches, documents, or answers to [[UK Parliamentary questions#Parliamentary Questions|Parliamentary Questions]], they will, to avoid confusion, only do so in its British meaning of 1 million million and not in the sense in which it is used in the United States of America, which uses the term 'billion' to mean 1,000 million.<br>
The Prime Minister: No. The word 'billion' is now used internationally to mean 1,000 million and it would be confusing if British Ministers were to use it in any other sense. I accept that it could still be interpreted in this country as 1 million million and I shall ask my colleagues to ensure that, if they do use it, there should be no ambiguity as to its meaning.}}

The [[BBC]] and other UK mass media quickly followed the government's lead within the UK.

During the last quarter of the 20th century, most other English-speaking countries (Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe, etc.) either also followed this lead or independently switched to the short scale use. However, in most of these countries, some limited long scale use persists and the official status of the short scale use is not clear.
|-
| valign="top"|1975
|French mathematician [[Geneviève Guitel]] introduced the terms ''long scale'' ({{langx|fr|échelle longue}}) and ''short scale'' ({{langx|fr|échelle courte}}) to refer to the two numbering systems.<ref name="Guitel1" /><ref name="Guitel2" />
|-
| valign="top"|1994
|The [[Italian Government]] confirmed their official usage of the long scale.<ref name="it_gov" />
|}