Trillions (short Scale) to Billions (short Scale) (T to B)
1 trillion (short scale) equals 1,000 billions (short scale) exactly.
How to convert trillions (short scale) to billions (short scale)
To convert trillions (short scale) to billions (short scale), multiply the number of trillions (short scale) by 1,000. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply billions (short scale) by 0.001.
billions (short scale) = trillions (short scale) × 1,000
Example: 10 trillions (short scale) = 10,000 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
Trillion (short Scale) (T)
One thousand billion (10¹²) in the short scale used in English.
A trillion is a thousand billion, 10¹², and its name fits the short-scale pattern in which each new name multiplies by a thousand: million, billion, trillion, quadrillion. The prefix tri- is Latin for three, and in Jehan Adam's 1475 scheme trimillion meant the third power of a million, 10¹⁸. That is still the long-scale meaning of trillion, so the short-scale trillion equals the long-scale billion.
The SI prefix for 10¹² is tera-. Where the long scale is used, including continental Europe, French Canada, and the Spanish-speaking Americas, the same word names 10¹⁸. A trillion seconds is about 31,700 years. Trillions turn up in energy statistics: an explainer from the U.S. Energy Information Administration cites U.S. natural gas consumption of 32.51 trillion cubic feet, which it converts to 33.61 quads.
1 trillion (short scale) = 1,000,000,000,000 pieces (exactly).
Sources: Wikipedia: Names of large numbers; U.S. EIA: British thermal units (Btu); BIPM SI Brochure, 9th edition (2019)
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 trillions (short scale) (reverse)
- Trillions (short scale) to pieces
- Trillions (short scale) to dozens
- Trillions (short scale) to lakhs
- Trillions (short scale) to millions
- Trillions (short scale) to crores
- Trillions (short scale) to pairs
- Trillions (short scale) to hundred
- Trillions (short scale) to gross
- Trillions (short scale) to thousand
- Trillions (short scale) 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)
- Gross to billions (short scale)
- Thousand 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.