<Li> 1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or 10 (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale . This is now the meaning in both British and American English . </Li> <Li> Historically, in British English, 1,000,000,000,000, i.e. one million million, or 10 (ten to the twelfth power), as defined on the long scale . This is one thousand times larger than the short scale billion, and equivalent to the short scale trillion . </Li> <P> American English has always used the short scale definition but British English once employed both versions . Historically, the United Kingdom used the long scale billion but since 1974 official UK statistics have used the short scale . Since the 1950s the short scale has been increasingly used in technical writing and journalism, although the long scale definition still enjoys some limited usage . </P> <P> Other countries use the word billion (or words cognate to it) to denote either the long scale or short scale billion . For details, see Long and short scales--Current usage . </P>

Is an american billion the same as a british billion