Long scale is better than short scale

Hi! It's been a bit since I've posted anything quite as substantial, so here we go! I was brought up with what we were led to believe was the "British/French" system of numbers, known as "long scale", which many countries still use, as opposed to the "American/German" version, which apparently Britain now uses, also known as "short scale". The difference? The powers of ten: 10^n | 1000^n | Short scale | Million^n | Long scale, -ard | Long scale, thousand ---|---|---|---|---|--- 3 | 1 | Thousand | 0.5 | Thousand | Thousand 6 | 2 | Million | 1 | Million | Million 9 | 3 | Billion | 1.5 | Milliard | Thousand million 12 | 4 | Trillion | 2 | Billion | Billion 15 | 5 | Quadrillion | 2.5 | Billiard | Thousand billion 18 | 6 | Quintillion | 3 | Trillion | Trillion 21 | 7 | Sextillion | 3.5 | Trilliard | Thousand trillion 24 | 8 | Septillion | 4 | Quadrillion | Quadrillion 27 | 9 | Octillion | 4.5 | Quadrilliard | Thousand quadrillion 30 | 10 | Nonillion | 5 | Quintillion | Quintillion 33 | 11 | Decillion | 5.5 | Quintilliard | Thousand quintillion 36 | 12 | Undecillion | 6 | Sextillion | Sextillion 39 | 13 | Dodecillion | 6.5 | Sextilliard | Thousand sextillion 42 | 14 | Tredecillion | 7 | Septillion | Septillion 45 | 15 | Quattuordecillion | 7.5 | Septilliard | Thousand septillion 48 | 16 | Quindecillion | 8 | Octillion | Octillion 51 | 17 | Sexdecillion | 8.5 | Octilliard | Thousand octillion 54 | 18 | Septendecillion | 9 | Nonillion | Nonillion 57 | 19 | Octodecillion | 9.5 | Nonilliard | Thousand nonillion 60 | 20 | Novemdecillion | 10 | Decillion | Decillion ...etc. The details of this table is probably my best backup as to why I prefer long scale to short scale. As you can see, the long scale directly comes from the Latin of the power of a million, but short scale comes from what seems to be a hack: "a thousand times the power of a thousand"? "One less than the power of a thousand"? If you're intent on using a thousands-based system, I have suggested a "power of a thousand" name below,with the added benefit that it divides directly into the long scale without having to add such a "hack factor"! 10^n | 1000^n | Silly name ---|---|--- 3 | 1 | Thousand 6 | 2 | Bisand 9 | 3 | Trisand 12 | 4 | Quadsand 15 | 5 | Quintsand 18 | 6 | Sexsand 21 | 7 | Septsand 24 | 8 | Octsand 27 | 9 | Nonsand 30 | 10 | Decsand 33 | 11 | Undecsand 36 | 12 | Dodecsand 39 | 13 | Tredecsand 42 | 14 | Quattuordecsand 45 | 15 | Quindecsand 48 | 16 | Sexdecsand 51 | 17 | Sepdecsand 54 | 18 | Octdecsand 57 | 19 | Nondecsand 60 | 20 | Viginsand This is obviously very tongue-in-cheek, but it's one of the times that a common usage of numbers (which I like very much) has disappointed me. Till next time.