3

I have this value

N = 10^9 (9 in superscript)

How to read that in English? translating from my native language, I would say

Ten base of nine.

but is that really correct?

2
  • 2
    Ten to the power of nine. Ten raised to the ninth power. Ten to the ninth power.
    – TimR
    Commented Mar 1, 2015 at 12:05
  • This question touched on the topic of scientific notation: ell.stackexchange.com/questions/48494
    – Jasper
    Commented Mar 2, 2015 at 18:45

1 Answer 1

10

Formally it is

Ten to the power of nine

but more commonly:

Ten to the nine or Ten to the ninth

The use of Base 9 has a very different meaning.

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  • 3
    Or, in this specific case, "one billion". Commented Mar 1, 2015 at 15:40
  • Or, if you're old-school British, a milliard. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1,000,000,000 Commented Mar 2, 2015 at 17:54
  • If you're as old school British as I am, the word would be Gillion. You don't hear that much nowadays.
    – Chenmunka
    Commented Mar 2, 2015 at 18:43

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