Numbers in Hindi and Urdu

Date: 12/08/2000 at 08:17:00
From: SPR
Subject: Conversion

How many crores make one billion?

Date: 12/08/2000 at 13:31:13
From: Doctor Rick
Subject: Re: conversion

Hi, welcome to Ask Dr. Math!

I had never heard of a crore, but I did a simple Web search on the word 
crore, and I found this, which looks like just what you need:

Numbers in Hindi and Urdu - About.com, Inc. 
http://hindiurdu.about.com/aboutuk/hindiurdu/library/weekly/aa051900a.htm   

I quote a bit:

  There are two terms in particular that are worth discussing: lakh 
  and crore. A lakh is one hundred thousand (100,000), a crore is ten 
  million (10,000,000). The South Asian numbering system progresses as 
  follows: ten (das), hundred (sau), thousand (hejar in Hindi, hezar 
  in Urdu), one hundred thousand (lakh) and ten million (crore). 
  Commas are usually placed to show the number of lakhs and crores, so 
  one lakh is written 1,00,000 and one crore is written 1,00,00,000.

  The structure of the numbering system affects usage. In English 
  "half a million" and "five hundred thousand" are essentially 
  interchangeable. In Hindi and Urdu, the only possibility is "five 
  lakhs". India's population recently reached one billion, but South 
  Asian papers reported this as "one hundred crore".

- Doctor Rick, The Math Forum
  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/   

Date: 06/02/2003 at 08:48:15
From: Doctor Peterson
Subject: Re: The numerical representation of a crore

For another reference, see:

  How Many? A Dictionary of Units - Russ Rowlett
  http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/

  lakh or lac 
  a traditional unit of quantity in India, equal to 105 or 100 000.
  In India the lakh is used commonly instead of the million and
  commas are used to isolate the number of lakh; for example, the
  number 5 300 000 is called 53 lakh and written "53,00,000". See
  also crore.

  crore 
  a traditional unit of quantity in India, equal to 107 or 10
  million. Large numbers are usually described in India using the
  crore and the lakh (105); for example, the number 25 600 000 is
  called 2 crore 56 lakh and written "2,56,00,000". 

If you have any further questions, feel free to write back.

- Doctor Peterson, The Math Forum
  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/