$xx,xxx million - Math Central

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Question from sherry:

as a financial editor, for years I've seen $\$$ amts like this:
$\$xx,xxx$ million (ie, with a comma, not dec point)
Isn't that thousands of millions, which would equal 'billions'?

Hi Sherry,

There was a time when the meaning of billions was different in different in the US and in Britain but now the same definition is used in both places. One billion is 1,000,000,000 and hence $\$xx,xxx$ million is $\$xx.xxx$ billion.

Penny

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