Jehan Adam was a French 15th century

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

. He was secretary to Nicholle Tilhart, who was

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is distin ...

secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

and

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting an ...

of accounts to King

Louis XI of France Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revolt known as the ...

. He published a manuscript in 1475Lynn Thorndike, "The Arithmetic of Jehan Adam, A.D. 1475," Science and Thought in the Fifteenth Century containing the first use of the terms ''bymillion'' and ''trimillion'', which gave rise to the modern terms ''billion'' and ''trillion''. His usage referred to the

long scale The long and short scales are two powers of ten number naming systems that are consistent with each other for smaller numbers, but are contradictory for larger numbers. Other numbering systems, particularly in East Asia and South Asia, ha ...

values of 10¹² and 10^18, respectively. These terms have subsequently been revalued in English to the

short scale The long and short scales are two powers of ten number naming systems that are consistent with each other for smaller numbers, but are contradictory for larger numbers. Other numbering systems, particularly in East Asia and South Asia, hav ...

values 10⁹ and 10¹², respectively, although the original values remain in long scale countries. :... item noctes que le premier greton dembas vault ung, le second vault ..here some words seem to be omitted...cent, le quart vult mille, le Ve vault dix M, le VIe vault cent M, le VIIe vault Milion, Le VIIIe vault dix Million, Le IXe vault cent Millions, Le Xe vault Mil Millions, Le XIe vault dix mil Millions, Le XIIe vault Cent mil Millions, Le XIIIe vault bymillion, Le XIIIIe vault dix bymillions, Le XVe vault bymillions, Le XVIe vault mil bymillions, Le XVIIe vault dix Mil bymillions, Le XVIIIe vault cent mil bymillions, Le XIXe vault trimillion, Le XXe vault dix trimillions ... ;Translation: :

References

15th-century births French mathematicians 15th-century French mathematicians Year of death unknown 15th-century French writers {{france-mathematician-stub