Quadrillion

Discussion of the 11 Plus

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now
BucksBornNBred
Posts: 1031
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:01 pm

Quadrillion

Post by BucksBornNBred »

Is this a real word? Maths teacher says it isn't. So how else to describe 1,000,000,000,000,000?
Tinkers
Posts: 7240
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 2:05 pm
Location: Reading

Re: Quadrillion

Post by Tinkers »

Wikipedia seem to think so

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrillion" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
PurpleDuck
Posts: 1586
Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2010 10:45 pm

Re: Quadrillion

Post by PurpleDuck »

Maths teacher would do with a refresher course. If someone does not trust Wikipedia, quadrillion is also listed in an Oxford English Dictionary, where it is explained as "a thousand raised to the power of five" which is the same as 10 to power 15, as in the original post. :wink:

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/defin ... uadrillion" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It felt like I hit rock bottom; suddenly, there was knocking from beneath... (anon.)
BucksBornNBred
Posts: 1031
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:01 pm

Re: Quadrillion

Post by BucksBornNBred »

Thanks for the replies.. that is what I thought, but then D(not currently)H said the same (as the maths teacher) and that we should be using the modern Mega, tera, peta (teacher never mentioned those, just DH)... but they are prefixes aren't they? DS knows numbers up to Decillion... just general knowledge to that level I know, but if he should be learning another set of names it would be good to know. Maybe I can find some way to use quadrillion at our upcoming parent/teacher meeting to see what he says:-)

It may sound like I am making light of this, but DS was told in front of the class that the word didn't exist, which has made him believe his teacher is not too bright, so if there is another modern way to describe numbers and to stop DS thinking DT is stupid then it would be appreciated :-)
Tinkers
Posts: 7240
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 2:05 pm
Location: Reading

Re: Quadrillion

Post by Tinkers »

If we should be using prefixes like mega, terra etc in this case, then we shouldn't be using million, billion etc.
BucksBornNBred
Posts: 1031
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:01 pm

Re: Quadrillion

Post by BucksBornNBred »

But that is what I don't understand.... should we be saying that the country is 2 terapounds in debt and not 2 trillion pounds? DS knows his mega/giga/tera but they are prefixes and not numbers. I guess what I am asking is does the teacher know something I don't as I can't find anything to back up his denial of the word quarillion.
Proud_Dad
Posts: 500
Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2013 9:55 am

Re: Quadrillion

Post by Proud_Dad »

BucksBornNBred wrote:Thanks for the replies.. that is what I thought, but then D(not currently)H said the same (as the maths teacher) and that we should be using the modern Mega, tera, peta (teacher never mentioned those, just DH)... but they are prefixes aren't they? DS knows numbers up to Decillion... just general knowledge to that level I know, but if he should be learning another set of names it would be good to know. Maybe I can find some way to use quadrillion at our upcoming parent/teacher meeting to see what he says:-)

It may sound like I am making light of this, but DS was told in front of the class that the word didn't exist, which has made him believe his teacher is not too bright, so if there is another modern way to describe numbers and to stop DS thinking DT is stupid then it would be appreciated :-)
Quadrillion is a real word (google and wikepedia can quickly settle any argument these days!). So the teacher was wrong.

I don't think its a word which is widely used in practice though. When talking about big numbers scientists would tend to use "10 to the power of 15". Those with less understanding of powers of 10 would probably say a thousand trillion. Googol and Googolplex are the only big number words above a trillion which are commonly used.

Mega/giga/tera are prefixes which are applied to metric units. They're similar to kilo. These are used for things like bytes when talking about computer storage but for some reason aren't used for things like distance and mass. (people would generally say the distance from London to New York was around 5000 kilometres rather than 5 megametres!)
Warks mum
Posts: 538
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:30 am
Location: Warwickshire

Re: Quadrillion

Post by Warks mum »

I'd be much happier if everyone moved to some sensible standard terms such as mega, kilo, etc. Then I wouldn't be trying to fight the apparently-losing battle of using an proper (English) billion (i.e. a million times a million) rather than that nasty American one (a thousand million)... :twisted:

I think we're seeing a similar issue with mega being used in the two different contexts though... In computing it should mean 1,024 rather than 1,000 but I've seen both used in recent years in the computing world.

More confusion!
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Quadrillion

Post by mystery »

I don't think you have to worry that your son will think the teacher is stupid - just one of those teachers (or adults in general) who hasn't yet got round to the idea that there could be children who know more than them and that it's ok not to know everything and to say "I am not sure, let's check it out later."

Personally, I'd rather children didn't think the teacher was always right anyhow ....nothing more annoying than a kid who is absolutely sure they are right because that's what the teacher taught them ....... much better to have a bit of doubt and an open mind to the fact that no-one is superhuman and 100% correct all of the time.
PurpleDuck
Posts: 1586
Joined: Sat Jul 24, 2010 10:45 pm

Re: Quadrillion

Post by PurpleDuck »

Warks mum wrote:I'd be much happier if everyone moved to some sensible standard terms such as mega, kilo, etc. Then I wouldn't be trying to fight the apparently-losing battle of using an proper (English) billion (i.e. a million times a million) rather than that nasty American one (a thousand million)... :twisted:
I couldn't help but Google - apparently it was Chancellor Denis Healey who announced in 1975 that the treasury would adopt the US billion. I would have been happier if we could use a 'milliard' as they do in continental Europe, and leave the original meaning of the billion (million x million) alone!
It felt like I hit rock bottom; suddenly, there was knocking from beneath... (anon.)
Post Reply
11 Plus Mocks - Practise the real exam experience - Book Now