anderson@uwmacc.UUCP (Jess Anderson) (08/18/86)
How many computers are there in (a) the US and (b) the world?
What counts as "one computer" in the answer to this question?
How many micros are made each day?
In "Cohabiting with Computers," Joseph F. Traub, editor,
Wm. Kaufmann, publishers (1985), two contributors make what
struck me as very large claims. One was that the number of
computers is greater than the number of people in the world,
which I take to be 5 million million. Even counting digital
watches, I find it hard to believe there are 5 billion
computers. Another author claims there are more computers
than people in the United States, which I take to mean 220+
million. Could be, but that's a lot of computers! This same
author also says that more than one million microcomputers
are being manufactured each day.
Does anyone know the facts here? If you will e-mail to me,
I will summarize to the net (include a suggestion where the
summary should appear, please).
--
==UUCP: {harvard,seismo,topaz, =========================Jess Anderson======
| akgua,allegra,ihnp4,usbvax}!uwvax!uwmacc!anderson 1210 W. Dayton |
| ARPA: anderson@unix.macc.wisc.edu Madison, Wi 53706 |
| BITNET: anderson@wiscmacc 608/263-6988 |
==The chrysalis knows nothing of spring or autumn.=======(Chuang Tsu)=======tim@dciem.UUCP (Tim Pointing) (08/21/86)
In article <183@uwmacc.UUCP> anderson@uwmacc.UUCP (Jess Anderson) writes: > ... >One was that the number of >computers is greater than the number of people in the world, >which I take to be 5 million million. Obviously, we have a displaced Brit here. The 5 billion referred to so frequently are Sagan (a.k.a. American) billion equal to a thousand million. Even so, I still have trouble believing the above claim. -- Tim Pointing, DCIEM {decvax|ihnp4|watmath}!utzoo!dciem!tim or uw-beaver!utcsri!dciem!tim or seismo!mnetor!lsuc!dciem!tim
billw@wolf.UUCP (Bill "Did I Miss Something Here?" Wisner) (08/22/86)
> [...] One was that the number of > computers is greater than the number of people in the world, > which I take to be 5 million million. [...] 5 million million would be 5,000,000,000,000; five million millions. That there is five trillion.. -- Bill Wisner ..ihnp4!jack!wolf!billw Property is theft. -- P. J. Proudhon Property is liberty. -- P. J. Proudhon Property is impossible. -- P. J. Proudhon Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
anderson@uwmacc.UUCP (Jess Anderson) (08/23/86)
Some time back I posted this message. It contains a very dumb (and obvious) error. With but one exception, the responses I have received have drawn my attention to the error and had nothing of use to say about the questions. Naturally I'm quite embarrassed by the error, but [miniflame on the way] I'm even more embarrassed by the paucity of imagination in people whose only purpose in responding is to point it out. The answers I'm after are not on earth-shaking matters, but it would be nice to have responses that speak to the *obvious* question [end of mini- flame]. One responder suggested I should have posted to net.wanted, which makes sense, so I'm doing it here. The original (now corrected) posting follows: > How many computers are there in (a) the US and (b) the world? > What counts as "one computer" in the answer to this question? > How many micros are made each day? > > In "Cohabiting with Computers," Joseph F. Traub, editor, > Wm. Kaufmann, publishers (1985), two contributors make what > struck me as very large claims. One was that the number of > computers is greater than the number of people in the world, > which I take to be 5 million million. Even counting digital ^^^^^^^ thousand! (sigh :-) [silly me!] > watches, I find it hard to believe there are 5 billion > computers. Another author claims there are more computers > than people in the United States, which I take to mean 220+ > million. Could be, but that's a lot of computers! This same > author also says that more than one million microcomputers > are being manufactured each day. > > Does anyone know the facts here? If you will e-mail to me, > I will summarize to the net (include a suggestion where the > summary should appear, please). [The summary will appear in net.misc if at all.] -- ==UUCP: {harvard,seismo,topaz, =========================Jess Anderson====== | akgua,allegra,ihnp4,usbvax}!uwvax!uwmacc!anderson 1210 W. Dayton | | ARPA: anderson@unix.macc.wisc.edu Madison, Wi 53706 | | BITNET: anderson@wiscmacc 608/263-6988 | ==When we awake, our senses open.========================(Chuang Tsu)=======
tim@uw-nsr.UUCP (tim@uw-nsr) (08/26/86)
In article <184@wolf.UUCP> billw@wolf.UUCP (Bill "Did I Miss Something Here?" Wisner) writes: >> [...] One was that the number of >> computers is greater than the number of people in the world, >> which I take to be 5 million million. [...] > >5 million million would be 5,000,000,000,000; five million millions. That there >is five trillion.. > This number, 5 million million, was called 5 billion by the original poster of "Computer Census". The English word billion is ambiguous because in the United States it means 1 thousand million whereas in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland I'm pretty sure that it means 1 million million. So both of you are correct: 5,000,000,000,000 can be either five billion or five trillion depending on where you happen to be at the time.
evan@pedsgo.UUCP (Evan Marcus) (08/27/86)
Organization : Concurrent Computer Corp. (a Perkin-Elmer Company), Tinton Falls, NJ In article <184@wolf.UUCP> billw@wolf.UUCP (Bill "Did I Miss Something Here?" Wisner) writes: >> [...] One was that the number of >> computers is greater than the number of people in the world, >> which I take to be 5 million million. [...] > >5 million million would be 5,000,000,000,000; five million millions. That there >is five trillion.. >-- >Bill Wisner As I understand it, in England, 'billion' does not mean the same thing as it does in the US. In the UK, a billion=10^12, while in the US a billion = 10^9. They call 10^9 a 'milliard'. A Britisher watching American news would almost certainly be confused hearing that there are ~5 billion people in the world now. BTW, a trillion is 10^18 in England, and 10^12 in the US, and so on. -- NAME: Evan L. Marcus UUCP: ...{pesnta|prcrs|princeton|topaz|hjuxa|vax135}!petsd!pedsgo!evan USnail: CONCURRENT Computer Corporation (a Perkin-Elmer Company) M/S 308, 106 Apple St., Tinton Falls, NJ 07724 MA BELL:(201) 758-7357 QUOTE: "Use more honey; find out what she knows." -- John Whorfen
mcewan@uiucdcsb.CS.UIUC.EDU (08/30/86)
> [miniflame on the way] I'm even > more embarrassed by the paucity of imagination in people whose > only purpose in responding is to point it out. The answers I'm > after are not on earth-shaking matters, but it would be nice to > have responses that speak to the *obvious* question [end of mini- > flame]. Well, since you put it so obnoxiously, BEGIN RETURN FLAME I was one of the "unimaginative" people who corrected you. I sent that correction because it was a factual matter that directly affected your understanding of the question that was being asked. I did not address the question because the answer required FACTS, not IMAGINATION, and I had no facts to contribute. Would you prefer that I used my imagination and made up an answer? FLAME OFF. Scott McEwan {ihnp4,pur-ee}!uiucdcs!mcewan I used to believe in nihilism, but now I don't believe in anything.
yes2@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Randy Rzasa) (08/31/86)
If a billion is 10^12 and a trillion is 10^18 in Britain, and 10^9 is a milliard, then is 10^12 called a billiard? Sounds like some "britishers" might be confused if they heard about billiard games in the U.S.
aglew@ccvaxa.UUCP (09/06/86)
I'm sure the true Brits on the net will correct me,
but this first generation child was under the impression
that the European number naming system went like this:
1 - units
10 - tens
100 - hundred
1000 - thousands
10,000 - ten thousand
100,000 - hundred thousand
1,000,000 - thousand thousand, or, a million
10^7, 10^8, 10^9 - ten, hundred, thousand million
- a thousand million = a milliard
10^10... - ten thousand million...
10^12 - a million million, or, a billion
10^13 - 10 billion .. a million billion, or,
10^18 - a million million million, or, a trillion
10^24 - a billion billion, or, a million million million,
- or, by extension, a billiard (:-)
ie. a billiard would be 10^24, not 10^18.
I am always annoyed by Americans mocking the European system; it is much
more logical than million, billion, trillion... It is, essentially,
a positional notation in words.
Andy "Krazy" Glew. Gould CSD-Urbana. USEnet: ihnp4!uiucdcs!ccvaxa!aglew
1101 E. University, Urbana, IL 61801 ARPAnet: aglew@gswd-vms