Showing posts with label quadrillion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quadrillion. Show all posts

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Toward Centillion Dollar Deficits: How Big Can They Get?

I never knew the number after one trillion.  Until the Bush and Obama administrations there was little need for the trillion number.  I suspect only mathematicians, physicists and astronomers needed to know their names.   Now, trillion dollar deficits are routine, and the federal government is gearing up its printing press to go even further.  Soon, we will see quadrillion dollar deficits.  But what comes after quadrillion?

I looked up the names of numbers on Wikipedia. It won't be too long before we see centillion dollar deficits (10 to the 303rd power; in contrast one trillion is 10 to the 12th power).

From Wikipedia:
Name Short scale
(U.S. and
modern British)
Long scale
(continental Europe,
archaic British, and India)
Authorities
AHD4[1] COD[2] OED2[3] OEDnew[4] RHD2[5] SOED3[6] W3[7] UM[8]
Million 106 106 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Milliard 109 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Billion 109 1012 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Billiard 1015 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Trillion 1012 1018 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Quadrillion 1015 1024 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Quintillion 1018 1030 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Sextillion 1021 1036 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Septillion 1024 1042 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Octillion 1027 1048 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Nonillion 1030 1054 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Decillion 1033 1060 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Undecillion 1036 1066 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Duodecillion 1039 1072 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Tredecillion 1042 1078 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Quattuordecillion 1045 1084 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Quindecillion (Quinquadecillion) 1048 1090 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Sexdecillion (Sedecillion) 1051 1096 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Septendecillion 1054 10102 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Octodecillion 1057 10108 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Novemdecillion (Novendecillion) 1060 10114 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Vigintillion 1063 10120 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Centillion 10303 10600 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓