Sextillion
Sextillion means "a lot of"; usually, it denotes some amount larger than a million.
Some authors pretend that word "sextillion" denotes some specific integer number. Practically, this number remains indefinite: sometimes it may be \(10^{21}\), and sometimes \(10^{36}\), dependently on the personal preferences of the writer [1] [2].
In the similar way, the following terms are ambiguous: trillion, billion, quadrillion, quintillion. Usually, these words are used without the definition. Such a use indicates, that the author does not know even the order of magnitude of the quantity mentioned [3].
In such a way, word sextillion is very useful; it helps to identify the fake, wrong publications.
References
- ↑ http://www.jimloy.com/math/billion.htm Jim Loy. Million, Billion, Trillion... (1999)
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_large_numbers
- ↑ http://budclub.ru/k/kuznecow_d_j/textillion.shtml Д.Кузнецов. Текстиллион. (2009, in Russian)
