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Comment on China constructs world's first dual-tower solar thermal plant — and it will help generate nearly 2 billion kWh annually

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judooochp@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

Until the 70s, “billion” meant1,000,000,000,000. What we call a billion was a thousand million. Each “billion” meaning a group of six zeros. Now we use"short" form. French still uses “long” form. So when they say “thousand billion,” they probably are talking about what we English speakers call a quintillion: 1,000,000,000,000,000

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threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

what we English speakers call a quintillion: 1,000,000,000,000,000

Irritatingly, that’s a quadrillion, not a quintillion.

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- judooochp@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Holy fuck, that is irritating. I was still in bed. Leaving it for posterity. Thanks for pointing it out
  
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  - threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Ever since I watched this Numberphile video, I’ve been disappointed at how widespread the “short” scale is.
    
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