Thursday, March 26, 2009

The 165 million bonus scandal

What is 165 million compared to 170 billion?
First we have to establish what is a million?

That's easy. One, followed by 6 zeroes. 1,000,000.

A billion is trickier. It could be 1,000,000,000 or 1,000,000,000,000. Depending on the scale.
Most English speaking countries, including the US, use the former.

So a billion in our context refers to a thousand million or one, followed by 9 zeroes, 1,000,000,000.

So 165 million of 170 billion in percentage terms is .......

165,000,000 ÷ 170,000,000,000 = 165 ÷ 170,000 = 0.000970588235 x 100% = 0.0970588235%.

The numbers aren't even astronomical but 165 million already seems huge. I can't fathom 170 billion.

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