quadrillion

• Nom désignant un très grand nombre, égal à 10^15 selon l'échelle courte ou 10^24 selon l'échelle longue.

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).

   Quadrillion (échelle courte)

   • 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 (échelle longue)

   • 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.