Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 19:28:09 -0600 (CST)

Name:          Blaine

Who is asking: Student
Level:         Elementary

What are the names of the periods in groups of numbers like 123,456,789. I need to know the names of them for school. I already know the first ones: units thousands millions billions trillions

The proper names are

units;
tens; 10
hundreds; 100
thousands; 1 000
millions; 1 000 000
billions; 1 000 000 000
trillions; 1 000 000 000 000
( to save some typing I am going to write 10^3 to mean 10x10x10=1 000, 10^4 = 10x10x10x10 = 10 000 and so on so a trillion is 10^12)
quadrillion; 10^15
quintillion; 10^18
sextillion; 10^21
septillion; 10^24
octillion; 10^27
nonillion; 10^30
decillion; 10^33
...

You have to be a little careful with these terms as they have different meanings in different places such as England, France and Quebec. For example in England a quadrilliion is 10^24 which is a septillion in the US.

Cheers
Penny and Diane