Did you know the United States is unique to the world in what it calls its large numbers?

In the U.S., million means six zeros and billion means nine zeros. In Britain, million means six zeros and billion (bi- meaning two) has twice as many zeros as million—what Americans would call trillion (12 zeros). The scientific community also uses the American system. This chart shows the names we’ve given to those really big numbers:

Other big numbers with names are zillion, which has come to mean an arbitrary or unknown large number; a googol—a 1 with 100 zero after it; and a googolplex—a 1 with 1,000 zeros!