Talk:Hungarian pengő

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[edit] Numbers

Unless I'm very confused (wouldn't be the first time) there's something wrong with the numbers on this page.

Isn't a sextillion (10²¹) a thousand billion billion (in short scale) rather than a thousand million billion?
Similarly isn't 100 quintillion (10²⁰) a hundred billion billion, not a hundred million billion?

cf. es:Pengő mil trillones & cien trillones (long scale)

—Moilleadóir 15:02, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

Hi there!

Well, correct me if I'm wrong (I'm looking at Names of large numbers here)

• A sextillion (10²¹) should be a thousand billion billion (since a thousand is 10³ and a billion is 10⁹ and because ), while a thousand million billion (million being 10⁶) is , which corresponds to a quintillion, not a sextillion.
• 100 Quintillion () should be a hundred billion billion (just like above, but with a hundred instead of a thousand), while a hundred million billion is , which corresponds to a hundred quadrillion.

Hope to have explained it so that everyone can follow! So, now we're two hoping not to be all too wrong; I corrected the main entry. :-)

Note that you have to be careful when comparing the numbers with other european languages, since those usually use a different scale (though the numbers in the spanish article seem to be correct).

Also, right now, I am not really sure which of the numbers are correct; is really a sextillion meant or rather thousand million billion? Is really 100 quintillion or 100 million billion meant? Since I do not understand hungarian, I cannot tell from the images (which leads me to another problem: the image of the first link has a banknote depicted which says "1 milliard" — do they use another scale/word altogether, wrong link or just some weird coincidence?). --NicApicella, 18/Aug/2005

It says "Milliard B-pengo", the B- stands for Billion Nik42 22:08, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

Thanks; that's true, I didn't notice the leading "B-"! --NicApicella, 19/Aug/2005

[edit] Hungarian terms

Modern English terms are the following (with the exponent given):

• million (6), billion (9), trillion (12), quadrillion (15), quintillion (18), sextillion (21) etc.

The corresponding Hungarian terms are, on the other hand, the following:

• millió (6), milliárd (9), billió (12), billiárd (15), trillió (18), trilliárd (21) etc.

As it is shown, the "long scale" is used in Hungary. For more on international usage and history of terms see the article on Names of large numbers.

The first image is of egymilliárd b.-pengő, out of which

• egy means 1
• milliárd is milliard, 10⁹, a thousand million
• b.- refers to billió, trillion (10¹²) in English (see above)

So it shows the denomination , i.e. sextillion in American and modern British usage.

The second image is of százmillió b.-pengő, out of which

• száz means 100
• millió is million, 10⁶
• b.- is again billió, trillion in English

So it shows the denomination , a hundred quintillion in American and modern British usage.

So I think these names are correct in the article.

Adam78 19:27, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

Just in time... :-( Now I see your point is not about these but about their expanded clarification. I checked it; you were right with the correction. – At least I hope to have answered NicApicella's last question. -- Adam78 19:35, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

You sure did! :-) Thank you very much... NicApicella, 19/Aug/2005

[edit] Introduction of Forint

The highest denomination in use was a 100 billion billion (100 quintillion, 10²⁰) pengő, see image.

The Hungarian economy could only be stabilized by the introduction of a new currency, and so, on August 1, 1946, the forint was introduced at a rate of 400 octillion (4×10²⁹) pengő.

Is this correct? According to this, 1 forint was equivalent to 4 billion of the highest denomination bills. Surely there must be some mistake? I can't believe that people would require billions of banknotes to purchase goods! Nik42 22:47, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

As it's mentioned in the article, adópengő (literally: "tax-pengő") was used instead. But I found a more exact reference ([1]): on the last day with pengő, July 31 1946, a newpaper named Szabad Szó cost 100 million adópengő, and it advertised various women's clothes for forint. Another ad: "Dollar? No! Gold? No! Forint? Yes! What is more, we will only sell all our goods for forint from August 1st. Textile wholesale store by Zsigmond Darvas. <adress>". The price of the same paper was 40 fillér (= 0.4 forint) on the following day. -- Adam78 00:09, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

So, was that 100 billion billion pengő actually a hundred billion billion adópengő? Nik42 01:17, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

No. Adópengő was used in everydays in the first half of 1946 (to my understanding), but the above sentence is about the official currency, pengő. Adam78 12:45, 20 October 2005 (UTC)