Dictionary.com says a billion is "a cardinal number represented in the U.S. by 1 followed by 9 zeros, and in Great Britain by 1 followed by 12 zeros." It also seems it indicate that British definition is no longer used, although it's unclear on that.

Does a billion still represent two different numbers among scientists? If not, when did this change? Wouldn't older papers still use the old definition? Has this discrepency caused any practical problems in scientific projects--particularly in relation to astronomy and physics?

Cheers,

John

Recently a news report used the word 'thousand billion' and I wondered why they did not just say 'trillion'? But according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(numbers)#Smaller_than_10.E2.88.9230) a thousand billion is one above a trillion. 

Here's the problem:

A billion is 1 followed by 9 zeroes.

A trillion is 1 followed by 12 zeroes.

A thousand billion is 1 followed by 15 zeroes.

Is Wikipedia wrong? The difference between 12 and 9 is 3, which is a thousand in terms of zeroes. So, isn't a trillion and a thousand billion the same thing?