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12/30/2005 Entry: "Why is "One million" interesting?"

from Wikipedia One million (1,000,000), one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001

The million is sometimes used in the English language as a metaphor for a very large number, as in "Never in a million years" and "You're one in a million", or a hyperbole, as in "I've walked a million miles". Hence, a millionaire is a rich person, no matter the actual currency or the exact quantity. Il Milione is the title of Marco Polo's narration of his travel to China. The name is supposed to come from Polo's nickname after his tales of riches and multitudes.

The word "million" is common to the short scale and long scale numbering systems (and also to the proposed Rowlett numbering system), unlike the larger numbers, which have different names in the two systems.

The name is derived from Italian, where milla was 1,000, and 1,000,000 became millione, "a large thousand!"..

There are other interesting 7-digit numbers. The Wiki article lists a few of them.

and then there's the The Million Dollar Homepage

[see Wiki's commentary.

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