Re: [Bug-ddrescue] Math and Prefixes

[Antonio Diaz Diaz]

Hello Chris,

First of all, "Usamerican" is not (at least for me) a pejorative term; 
it is simply the most accurate term I know off to mean "people from the 
USA". Many US residents aren't US citizens, Canadians and Mexicans are 
also North Americans, and everybody in the continent are Americans.

Chris Keeton wrote:
> I am one of those "Usamericans"(should be - US citizens, North 
> Americans, or Americans) that would like to point out a serious error in 
> logic by the person who wrote this man page.(info ddrescue: Invoking 
> ddrescue, bottom of the page)

Sorry, but I am unable to see the "error in logic" here.
The Latin prefix "bi" means "two", so the most obvious meaning for 
"bi-llion" is "a million millions (million^2).
The Latin prefix "tri" means "three", so the most obvious meaning for 
"tri-llion" is a million million millions (million^3).
And so on.

OTOH, I can't see why anybody would call "tri-llion" to a million 
millions (million^2). Where is the three here?


> Please search (at least) wikipedia for definitions to such complicated 
> terms before putting your own definitions in print.

Quoted from the Wikipedia:
------------------------------
Billion may mean:
    * Either of two numbers (see long and short scales for more detail):
          · 1,000,000,000 (one thousand million; 10^9) - increasingly 
common meaning in English language usage.
          · 1,000,000,000,000 (one million million; 10^12) - 
increasingly rare meaning in English language usage; standard meaning in 
many other languages.
------------------------------

As you can see, the long scale (where billion is million^2) is the 
common usage around the world. It was even the common usage in English 
language before Usamericans began trying to impose their own usage to 
the rest of the world.


Regards,
Antonio.