A billion dollars for the winner!

How big is a billion? Beware, this is a tricky question. If you come from Europe you will probably answer “one million millions” (that is 1 followed by 12 zeros, or 10 to the 12^th power), but if you are American or Canadian, you will say “one thousand millions” (1 followed by 9 zeros, or 10 to the 9^th power).

This is the definition of billion from The Oxford Dictionary available online:

“In British English, a billion used to be equivalent to a million million (i.e. 1,000,000,000,000), while in American English it has always equated to a thousand million (i.e. 1,000,000,000). British English has now adopted the American figure, though, so that a billion equals a thousand million in both varieties of English.

The same sort of change has taken place with the meaning of trillion. In British English, a trillion used to mean a million million million (i.e. 1,000,000,000,000,000,000). Nowadays, it's generally held to be equivalent to a million million (1,000,000,000,000), as it is in American English.”

http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/how-many-is-a-billion

The word billion apparently entered English from French in the 17^th century, although its first recorded uses date from the 13^th century.

In Spanish, as I mentioned before, “billón” is a million millions:

http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltConsulta?TIPO_BUS=3&LEMA=billon

The same goes for French, German, and most of the languages in mainland Europe. 

Using the billion with 12 zeros is usually referred to as the “long scale”, the billion with 9 zeros being known as the “short scale”.  A very interesting and complete article about the subject may be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales#cite_note-Smith-11

PLEASE ADD YOUR COUTRY AND THE NUMBER OF ZEROS THAT A "BILLION" HAS FOR YOU
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SPAIN......12 zeros