Continue this series

[Wacky]

Originally Posted by Jwb52z

How can a series terminate when numbers are infinite?

Although there are an infinite number of integers, perhaps only part of them are a part of the series.

For example, consider the series of primes whose squares are less than 100. There are only a finite number of integers that qualify.

[masser]

I think 3,6,7,9,10,13.... terminates at 999.

Is 2,000,000 in the series 2,4,6,30...? If so, I'm willing to believe that this sequence does not terminate.

These are fun questions. :D

[Orgasmic Troll]

2,000,000 is in the series
2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 is not.
2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 is.

[Wacky]

Originally Posted by TravisT

2,000,000 is in the series
2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 is not.
2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 is.

Would our British friends agree?

[Orgasmic Troll]

I was wondering whether the British write numbers like us 'merkins do, in regard to the comma and period or like continental europeans, and then I wondered if they even bother to define a sextilliard or thousand sextillion or whatever it would be .. and then I went cross-eyed.

[Jwb52z]

The only differences that exist in numbers between Americans and the British start when you get to 1,000,000,000 and above. The difference is what some numbers above 1 billion and 1 trillion are called based on the number of zeroes.

[Orgasmic Troll]

Yeah, that's what we're talking about, billion vs. milliard and such

[xilman]

Originally Posted by Jwb52z

The only differences that exist in numbers between Americans and the British start when you get to 1,000,000,000 and above. The difference is what some numbers above 1 billion and 1 trillion are called based on the number of zeroes.

Writing as a Brit, I observe that there are differences between American and British nomenclature but the one described is becoming increasingly less common.

The "old" British standard was that the -illion suffix counted powers of 10^6 and had the natural prefix derived from Latin. Thus trillion was the third (Latin prefix tri-) power of 10^6.

The American convention, and which is almost universally used in Britain these days, is to count powers of a thousand and to do so with a prefix that is offset by 1. Thus a trillion is the (3+1)-th power of 10^3.

The major difference between British and American nomenclature is that the British frequently insert the word "and" after words such as "hundred" or "thousand". I don't know what the exact rule is, but we say "one hundred and twenty three", "five thousand and two", but "one million, two hundred and thirty four thousand, five hundred and sixty seven". I do not know why there is not an "and" after "million" and "thousand" in the last example.

Americans hardly ever, in my experience, use "and" in this manner.


Paul

[Orgasmic Troll]

On the 'and' issue, To me, it seems natural to use it, but I was told in grade school that 'and' should be reserved for fractions, like One hundred twenty three and four fifths.

But I think that's just silly.

[cheesehead]

xilman, I always use the "and" in numbers exactly as you describe as the British manner, but I was born and raised in Oklahoma, and have always lived in the midwest U.S.

Maybe I listened to BBC too much at night. My high school speech teacher kept telling me not to pronounce the "t" in "often".

[Wiskonst]

Well? Reboot It?