quadrillion

• Zahlwort für eine sehr große Zahl, entweder 10^15 (kurze Skala) oder 10^24 (lange Skala).

A noun referring to a very large number, equivalent to 10^15 in the short scale or 10^24 in the long scale.

1. Number (short scale)C2formalamerican

   The number represented by a one followed by 15 zeros (1,000,000,000,000,000).

   Billiarde

   • The national debt is measured in quadrillions of dollars.
   • A quadrillion is a thousand trillion.
   • The data storage capacity is now measured in quadrillions of bytes.

2. Number (long scale)C2formalbritish

   The number represented by a one followed by 24 zeros (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000).

   Quadrillion (lange Skala)

   • In the long scale system, a quadrillion equals a million billion.
   • Some older British texts use quadrillion to mean 10^24.
   • The distance to the farthest galaxies is sometimes expressed in quadrillions of miles.