The British use a comma to separate every three digits when writing large numbers.
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When writing large numbers, the British use a comma as a separator every three digits. This is known as the comma-separated numbering system or a thousands separator. For example, instead of writing 1000000, the British would write it as 1,000,000.
This system is not unique to the British and is commonly used in countries with a European influence. However, it is not universal, as some countries use a dot as a separator or group numbers differently.
According to historian Bill Bryson, the use of the comma as a separator became prevalent in the sixteenth century and was fully established by the eighteenth century. Bryson notes that initially, it was not mandatory to use the thousands separator, and it was up to the writer’s preference.
Interesting facts on large numbers:
- The largest named number is googolplex, which is a one followed by a googol zeros.
- The term “googol” was coined by nine-year-old Milton Sirotta, who was the nephew of mathematician Edward Kasner.
- There is a mathematical concept known as Graham’s number, which is a number so large that its digits cannot be written down in the observable universe.
- In 2019, mathematician Timothy Browning made headlines for discovering a new record-breaking prime number with over 24 million digits.
A helpful table for understanding the comma-separated numbering system:
| Number | Standard | British |
|---|---|---|
| 1000 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| 10000 | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| 100000 | 100,000 | 100,000 |
| 1000000 | 1,000,000 | 1,000,000 |
See a video about the subject
In this video, Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com explains how to say big numbers in English. There are many ways to say these numbers, depending on the situation. One common way to say a number is to say each individual number, such as “one hundred and twelve” or “two hundred and five.” When talking about specific situations, such as hotel rooms or phone numbers, you might say “one twelve” or “two hundred and five.” When counting items, you might say “one two five.” Vanessa also explains that you can use these same numbers in phone numbers and in other contexts, such as “I’m in room two hundred ten.”
See additional response choices
Generally, in British English we usually connect large numbers with double or single digit figures with and, but in American English and is not used. Note that hundreds, thousands and millions are not connected to each other with and, though.
Commas
In countries like the US, UK, and China, commas are used with large numbers to make them easier to read. A comma is placed every 3 decimal places for numbers larger than 999. The decimal point is shown with a period (full stop).
Spell out from one to nine; numerals from 10 to 999,999; thereafter use m or bn for sums of money, quantities or inanimate objects in copy, eg £10m, 5bn tonnes of coal, 30m doses of vaccine; but million or billion for people or animals, eg 1 million people, 25 million rabbits, the world population is 7 billion, etc; spell trillion in full at first mention, then tn; in headlines use m, bn or tn
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In this way, How do you write big numbers in British English? The whole number is pronounced. As 123456 I noticed that you didn’t say thousands British but thousand that’s right Richard we never say thousands millions or billions for any large number only
How do you write numbers in thousands in British English?
Answer to this: So too are the thousands, with the number of thousands followed by the word "thousand". For the number one thousand it may be written 1 000 or 1000 or 1,000, for larger numbers they are written for example 10 000 or 10,000 for ease of human reading.
Similar
Beside above, How do you write large numbers in English? When writing or reading a large number, begin at the left with the largest group, and proceed to the right. For instance, 7,482 is read as seven thousand, four hundred, eighty-two.
How do you write numbers in British?
Here’s how it works: The guiding rules for general writing suggest you should almost always use full words for small numbers, from one to nine (i.e. not 1, 2, 3, to 9), and numerals for those over nine.
How do you write a large number?
The reply will be: We say large numbers by listing the numbers in order of size, biggest first. When reading a single number, all the number labels should be singular, for example 10,400 is ten thousand four hundred and not ten thousands four hundreds. We describe three digit numbers in hundreds, then tens.
What are composite large numbers in American English? Response to this: Here are some approximate composite large numbers in American English: Quantity Written Pronounced 1,200,000 1.2 million one point two million 3,000,000 3 million three million 250,000,000 250 million two hundred fifty million 6,400,000,000 6.4 billion six point four billion 23,380,000,000 23.38 billion
How do you write a million in English? Response: Thus, a million is often written 1 000 000. In some areas, a point(. or ·) may also be used as a thousands separator, but then the decimal separatormust be a comma (,). In English the point (.) is used as the decimal separator, and the comma (,) as the thousands separator.
Accordingly, Does Indian English use millions?
In reply to that: Indian English does not use millions, but has its own system of large numbers including lakhs and crores. English also has many words, such as "zillion", used informally to mean large but unspecified amounts; see indefinite and fictitious numbers .
Also asked, How do you write a large number?
Response: We say large numbers by listing the numbers in order of size, biggest first. When reading a single number, all the number labels should be singular, for example 10,400 is ten thousand four hundred and not ten thousands four hundreds. We describe three digit numbers in hundreds, then tens.
People also ask, What are composite large numbers in American English? Here are some approximate composite large numbers in American English: Quantity Written Pronounced 1,200,000 1.2 million one point two million 3,000,000 3 million three million 250,000,000 250 million two hundred fifty million 6,400,000,000 6.4 billion six point four billion 23,380,000,000 23.38 billion
In this manner, How do you write a million in English?
Answer: Thus, a million is often written 1 000 000. In some areas, a point(. or ·) may also be used as a thousands separator, but then the decimal separatormust be a comma (,). In English the point (.) is used as the decimal separator, and the comma (,) as the thousands separator.
Does Indian English use millions? The reply will be: Indian English does not use millions, but has its own system of large numbers including lakhs and crores. English also has many words, such as "zillion", used informally to mean large but unspecified amounts; see indefinite and fictitious numbers .