Gross to Billions (short Scale) (gr to B)
1 gross equals 1.44×10⁻⁷ billions (short scale) exactly.
How to convert gross to billions (short scale)
To convert gross to billions (short scale), multiply the number of gross by 1.44×10⁻⁷. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply billions (short scale) by 6,944,444.444 (rounded).
billions (short scale) = gross × 1.44×10⁻⁷
Example: 10 gross = 0.00000144 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
Gross (gr)
Twelve dozen, 144 items. Still used when buying items such as pencils or buttons in bulk.
A gross is twelve dozen, 144 items, and the name is literally a large dozen: the term dates from the early 15th century and comes from the Old French grosse douzaine. Its plural is gross, as in three gross of screws.
Its structure is purely duodecimal. A gross is 12 dozens, 24 half dozens, or 72 pairs, and the step above it, the great gross, is 12 gross. Related terms include the small gross, which is 120. The larger groupings in this family are mainly used when buying or shipping in bulk, and the Dozenal Society of America promotes wider use of such terms as part of its case for counting in base 12.
1 gross = 144 pieces (exactly).
Sources: Wikipedia: Gross (unit); Wiktionary: gross; Wikipedia: Dozen
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 gross (reverse)
- Gross to pieces
- Gross to dozens
- Gross to lakhs
- Gross to millions
- Gross to crores
- Gross to pairs
- Gross to hundred
- Gross to thousand
- Gross to trillions (short scale)
- Gross to score
- 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)
- Thousand to billions (short scale)
- Trillions (short scale) to billions (short scale)
- Score to billions (short scale)
- Half dozens to billions (short scale)
- Quadrillions to billions (short scale)
See all counting & quantity units.