The situation in Britain and France is muddled. Britain used to use the billion of 10^12, but recently the economists have shifted to the American billion of 10^9.
France used the 10^9 billion until fairly recently (1948?) when the billion was officially changed to 10^12. At the same time the milliard was and is 10^9. To avoid confusion I never use the terms billion, trillion, etc. Joseph B.Reid 17 Glebe Road West Toronto M5P 1C8 TEL. 416-486-6071
