Forty Billion in Numbers

How to write 40,000,000,000 in words

The number 40,000,000,000 is written “forty billion” in British English.

Because 40,000,000,000 is below one thousand it is a single group: name the hundreds and stop. That gives “forty billion”.

In running text the number is normally lowercase: “the fee is forty billion pounds”. At the start of a sentence, in a heading, or on a legal document it takes capitals: Forty Billion. Formal documents often give both forms together, for example “forty billion (40,000,000,000)”, so that a reader can check one against the other.

2 words · 12 letters · 40,000,000,000 = 40 × 1,000,000,000 (one billion)

Forty Billion in figures

To turn “forty billion” back into digits, work group by group. Each group word (billion, million, thousand) marks a block of three digits. The result is 40,000,000,000, or 40000000000 without separators.

Commas go after every third digit counting from the right: 40,000,000,000. In Britain and the United States this is the standard grouping; in much of Europe the same number appears as 40.000.000.000, and international scientific style uses spaces: 40 000 000 000.

How to write 40,000,000,000 on a cheque

Banks read the amount in words as the legal amount, so it must be exact. Write the pounds in words, add the word pounds, and finish with only so that nothing can be added afterwards.

• With pence: add the pence after the pounds – “Forty billion pounds and fifty pence only” for £40,000,000,000.50 – or write the pence as a fraction, “Forty billion pounds 50/100”.
• US check: “Forty billion and 00/100 dollars”. American cheques drop the “and” after the hundreds and put it before the cents.
• Bangladesh, India and Pakistan: the currency word comes first and the amount is counted in lakh and crore – “Taka four thousand crore only”, with the figure written Tk. 40,00,00,00,000/=.

Read the full guide to writing a UK cheque or the guide to writing a cheque in Bangladesh for the layout, the date, and what to do if the words and figures disagree.

40,000,000,000 in British and American English

40,000,000,000 is spelled exactly the same way – “forty billion” – in British and American English. The two varieties only differ when a number contains hundreds followed by tens or units, where British English adds “and”. Read more in our guide to British vs American English numbers.

40,000,000,000 in lakh and crore (India, Bangladesh and Pakistan)

In India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, large numbers are grouped differently. After the first thousand the digits are grouped in twos, and the units are lakh (100,000) and crore (10,000,000). So 40,000,000,000 becomes 40,00,00,00,000, read as “four thousand crore” – or simply 4,000 crore.

On an Indian cheque or invoice the amount reads “Rupees four thousand crore only”; in Bangladesh it is “Taka four thousand crore only”. Our lakh and crore conversion guide explains the system in full.

Common mistakes when writing 40,000,000,000

• Pluralising the group words. It is billion, never “hundreds”, “thousands” or “millions” after a number.
• Using shorthand in formal documents. 40bn is fine in a message, but a cheque or contract needs forty billion or 40,000,000,000.
• Miscounting the zeros. 40,000,000,000 has 11 digits. Check the commas: every group between commas should have exactly three digits.

Other ways to write 40,000,000,000

Half of 40,000,000,000 is 20,000,000,000 (twenty billion). Double 40,000,000,000 is 80,000,000,000 (eighty billion).