Arab (Indian) to Billions (short Scale) (arab to B)
1 arab (Indian) equals 1 billion (short scale) exactly.
How to convert arab (Indian) to billions (short scale)
To convert arab (Indian) to billions (short scale), multiply the number of arab (Indian) by 1. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply billions (short scale) by 1.
billions (short scale) = arab (Indian) × 1
Example: 10 arab (Indian) = 10 billions (short scale).
Large-number names differ around the world: this site uses the short scale (billion = 10⁹) by default, and lists the long-scale billion separately.
About these units
Arab (Indian) (arab)
One hundred crore (10⁹), the same as a short-scale billion. Used in the South Asian number system.
Western numbers are named in steps of a thousand, with a new word at each third power of ten: thousand, million, billion. The Indian system adds a new word at every second power instead, giving lakh for 100,000, crore for 10 million, arab for 1,000 million and kharab for 100,000 million. An arab is a hundred crore, or 10 to the ninth power.
That equals the short-scale billion, so the two words name the same quantity, which sometimes causes confusion between Indian and international usage. Digits are grouped to match: the first three from the right are one group, and then pairs follow, so an arab is written 1,00,00,00,000 rather than 1,000,000,000.
The system is official and preferred in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and Indian English publications use lakh and crore for rupee amounts. Nepal and Sri Lanka used it in the past but have moved to the international system, and the Maldives still uses lakh in speech. Sanskrit mathematicians such as Shridhara named large numbers beyond koti in several incompatible ways, so older texts do not always give the same value.
1 arab (Indian) = 1,000,000,000 pieces (exactly).
Sources: Wikipedia: Indian numbering system
Billion (short Scale) (B)
One thousand million (10⁹). The meaning used in the US, UK and most English-speaking countries today.
For decades British and American speakers meant different things by billion. The short-scale sense, a thousand million, took hold in the United States in the 19th century, while Britain kept the older meaning of a million million. From the 1950s the short scale spread through British technical writing and journalism, and Winston Churchill had remarked in 1941 that for practical financial purposes a billion was a thousand millions.
The official break came on December 20, 1974. Asked in Parliament whether ministers would be required to use the traditional British meaning, Prime Minister Harold Wilson answered no, explaining that billion was now used internationally for 1,000 million and that using it any other way would cause confusion. He conceded it could still be read as a million million and asked colleagues to avoid ambiguity. Today a billion is 10⁹, matching the SI prefix giga, and the UN projected that world population would reach 8 billion on November 15, 2022.
1 billion (short scale) = 1,000,000,000 pieces (exactly).
Sources: Hansard, 20 Dec 1974: Billion (Definition), written answer; Wikipedia: Billion; United Nations: Day of Eight Billion
Related conversions
- Billions (short scale) to arab (Indian) (reverse)
- Arab (Indian) to pieces
- Arab (Indian) to dozens
- Arab (Indian) to lakhs
- Arab (Indian) to millions
- Arab (Indian) to crores
- Pieces to billions (short scale)
- Dozens to billions (short scale)
- Lakhs to billions (short scale)
- Millions to billions (short scale)
- Crores to billions (short scale)
- Pairs to billions (short scale)
- Hundred to billions (short scale)
- Gross to billions (short scale)
- Thousand to billions (short scale)
- Trillions (short scale) to billions (short scale)
- Score to billions (short scale)
- Half dozens to billions (short scale)
See all counting & quantity units.