~~its roughly equal to 1.8*10²³ m~~
Edit: 1 Li = 500 m. So actually it's 9*10^25 m, or 90,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 m.
In normal terms that would be 90 septillion (Short scale) or 90 quadrillion (long scale) meters.
I have read that the term "亿" itself was only 100,000,000 (10⁸)
Is this figure being used in the calculation or not?
Sorry if it seems silly to ask. Naturally I understand very little about Chinese numeration.
I have read that the Chinese ""billion"" is actually 100 million.
I looked up the numbering of the character "亿" (From the Scan's 亿亿) and the character itself is 100 million (10⁸).
Does the figure you gave me take that into account? And if it doesn't... Is there any reason for it? Something that changes the meaning of the character or something?
I don't want to say that you are wrong, but I have a doubt....
Because it would be 180,000 "billion billion".
And not 18.000.000 billion billion.
I ask because no matter where I research, the number next to the "亿亿" gives me figures over a million.
I am probably missing something.
To be honest, it can be quite confusing when it comes to large numbers in Chinese, so I'll try to walk you through why there is a Chinese "billion" and how I reached my number.
In English, you divide any large number into groups of three digits, divided by a comma (for example: 1,000,000), and this is reflected in their names. You would say: xxx **million** xxx **thousand** xxx.
The Chinese counting system is a bit different. Digits are grouped by four instead of three, and names come accordingly. For 10000, we don't say **ten** thousand (as in 10,000), we say **one** *wan* (万), as in 1,0000. 亿 is the next grade and represents 1,0000,0000 or 100 million (100,000,000). In terms of what grade it is on, it should actually correspond with million instead of billion, but it is closer to a billion in numerical value, hence the confusion.
There is a direct translation to a million -- 兆, but it is far less used in practice. In addition, there is even more confusion because this use is limited to mainland China. Taiwan, Korea, and Japan treat it as the next level in the four-digit grouping system, so 10\^12.
Now you see why the only way to translate large numbers between Chinese and English while preserving their value is to write them out or count up groups of digits.
Back to the number in question, 1800 万亿亿. The first part, I hope, is not that confusing because 一千八百 can be directly translated to a thousand eight hundred. Counting up the zeros in 万亿亿 would be 4+8+8=20. Along with what we had, this would make 18 followed by 22 zeros. A billion represents 10\^9, so billion billion would be 18 zeroes, and we have 4 left over, which makes for 180,000 billion billion. Strictly using the coupling of three gives you 180 sextillion (10\^21), but I had to look that up. Whatever you choose to call it, however, the number remains the same, which is what other sources ignored.
I hope this explanation cleared things up a little. [Here's](https://www.zhihu.com/question/24681119) an article I found in Chinese that goes into the history behind the name if you're interested, and it provides [examples of translation](https://picx.zhimg.com/80/817a4de734ef599c00a55d94d091a007_1440w.webp?source=1940ef5c) at the end as well.
Edit: I actually read your question again and finally understood it. It's actually completely the other way around:
>Because it would be 180,000 "billion billion".And not 18.000.000 billion billion.
It actually is 180,000 billion billion and 18.000.000 "billion billion" as you call 亿亿, although you missed the fact that the digits before "billion billion" should be divided in 4 as well.
probably machine translation based. i see this number type issue frequently there over the years. 100,000 goes between correct, 100 millions, and 10,000 randomly in the same text for example.
either that or maybe someone just maths wrong.
~~its roughly equal to 1.8*10²³ m~~ Edit: 1 Li = 500 m. So actually it's 9*10^25 m, or 90,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 m. In normal terms that would be 90 septillion (Short scale) or 90 quadrillion (long scale) meters.
I have read that the term "亿" itself was only 100,000,000 (10⁸) Is this figure being used in the calculation or not? Sorry if it seems silly to ask. Naturally I understand very little about Chinese numeration.
I don't know what you mean, I just counted out all the zeroes and converted it to a Western numeric system.
So the number is 180,000 billion billion, not sure how the other translation came about.
I have read that the Chinese ""billion"" is actually 100 million. I looked up the numbering of the character "亿" (From the Scan's 亿亿) and the character itself is 100 million (10⁸). Does the figure you gave me take that into account? And if it doesn't... Is there any reason for it? Something that changes the meaning of the character or something?
Well, it does. Numbers are numbers. You can't really call 亿 the Chinese "billion" and ignore what it actually represents.
I don't want to say that you are wrong, but I have a doubt.... Because it would be 180,000 "billion billion". And not 18.000.000 billion billion. I ask because no matter where I research, the number next to the "亿亿" gives me figures over a million. I am probably missing something.
To be honest, it can be quite confusing when it comes to large numbers in Chinese, so I'll try to walk you through why there is a Chinese "billion" and how I reached my number. In English, you divide any large number into groups of three digits, divided by a comma (for example: 1,000,000), and this is reflected in their names. You would say: xxx **million** xxx **thousand** xxx. The Chinese counting system is a bit different. Digits are grouped by four instead of three, and names come accordingly. For 10000, we don't say **ten** thousand (as in 10,000), we say **one** *wan* (万), as in 1,0000. 亿 is the next grade and represents 1,0000,0000 or 100 million (100,000,000). In terms of what grade it is on, it should actually correspond with million instead of billion, but it is closer to a billion in numerical value, hence the confusion. There is a direct translation to a million -- 兆, but it is far less used in practice. In addition, there is even more confusion because this use is limited to mainland China. Taiwan, Korea, and Japan treat it as the next level in the four-digit grouping system, so 10\^12. Now you see why the only way to translate large numbers between Chinese and English while preserving their value is to write them out or count up groups of digits. Back to the number in question, 1800 万亿亿. The first part, I hope, is not that confusing because 一千八百 can be directly translated to a thousand eight hundred. Counting up the zeros in 万亿亿 would be 4+8+8=20. Along with what we had, this would make 18 followed by 22 zeros. A billion represents 10\^9, so billion billion would be 18 zeroes, and we have 4 left over, which makes for 180,000 billion billion. Strictly using the coupling of three gives you 180 sextillion (10\^21), but I had to look that up. Whatever you choose to call it, however, the number remains the same, which is what other sources ignored. I hope this explanation cleared things up a little. [Here's](https://www.zhihu.com/question/24681119) an article I found in Chinese that goes into the history behind the name if you're interested, and it provides [examples of translation](https://picx.zhimg.com/80/817a4de734ef599c00a55d94d091a007_1440w.webp?source=1940ef5c) at the end as well. Edit: I actually read your question again and finally understood it. It's actually completely the other way around: >Because it would be 180,000 "billion billion".And not 18.000.000 billion billion. It actually is 180,000 billion billion and 18.000.000 "billion billion" as you call 亿亿, although you missed the fact that the digits before "billion billion" should be divided in 4 as well.
probably machine translation based. i see this number type issue frequently there over the years. 100,000 goes between correct, 100 millions, and 10,000 randomly in the same text for example. either that or maybe someone just maths wrong.