Is a million or ten to the power six ( 106)

Is a billion or ten to the power nine (109)

This is now common usage. British English used to be that a billion was ten to the power twelve

(1012), but now everyone has accepted the current American usage.

Squares, Cubes, and Roots

Is ten squared

Is ten cubed

V6 is the square root of 6

Telephone and Fax Numbers

We usually give telephone and fax numbers as individual digits:

Oh one two seven three, seven three six, three four four

Can also be said as three double four

Double four, two six, double seven

111 can be said as seven double seven, or seven seven seven

Fractions

Fractions are mostly like ordinal numbers (fifth, sixth, twenty third, etc.)

A third

A fifth

A sixth

Notice, however, the following:

A half

A quarter

Three quarters

Three and a half

Two and three quarters

Now read the following news item:

In an opinion poll published today, over 3/4 of the electorate say they intend to vote in next

month’s referendum. 1/4 of voters say they will definitely vote Yes, while 1/3 will vote No. But that

leaves over 2/5 of the voters who haven’t made up their minds. Both sides remain hopeful.

A spokesman for the “Yes” campaign said, “At the moment, 2/3 of the electorate won’t vote No.”

A spokeswoman for the other side replied, “That’s true, but 3/4 won’t vote Yes!”

It

D Abbreviations. Latin Phrases and Abbreviations