A Million Times a Million: The Long and Short of It
2025-07-11
The author's childhood understanding of large numbers was based on the long scale, where a million times a million is a billion, and so on. However, upon entering university and encountering the tech world, he discovered the prevalence of the short scale, where a million times a million is a trillion. The article compares and contrasts the two systems, explaining the short scale's logic: it's based on successive multiplications of one thousand, not a million. While now using the short scale, the author fondly remembers the elegance of the long scale.