Category Archives: Miscellaneous

No Wonder Procurement Has No Credibility at Some Companies: Squillion is Not a Number

I was astounded to find that a Chief Procurement Officer of a major electrical retailer used the word “squillion” in the CPO Agenda Executive Roundtable this past May in London on “budgeting for a wider influence”. In order for Procurement to get a seat at the table, it has to first impress the CFO. To do that, it not only has to speak the language of finance, but use real numbers!

In North America, and in the general scientific community, these are the units of the Base 10 number system. Note that squillion is NOT on the list!

Unit Term
1 One
10 Ten
100 Hundred
1,000 Thousand
1,000,000 Million
1,000,000,000 Billion
1,000,000,000,000 Trillion
1,000,000,000,000,000 Quadrillion
1,000,000,000,000,000,000 Quintillion
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Sextillion
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Septillion
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Octillion
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Nonillion
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Decillion
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Undecillion
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Duodecillion
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Tredecillion
etc. etc.

Now you know. (And don’t make me tell you again! Or I might give Wacko back his industrial strength mallet.)