Sublime

order of magnitude

Because these multiples are encountered so frequently in both scientific research and in engineering practice, they were assigned specific Greek names to be used as prefixes for the first three orders of magnitude—101 is deka, 102 is hecto, 103 is kilo—and then for every third order: 106 is mega, 109 giga, all the way to yotta, 1024,

Multiples in the International System of Units used in the text Prefix Abbreviation Scientific notation hecto h 102 kilo k 103 mega M 106 giga G 109 tera T 1012 peta P 1015 exa E 1018 zetta Z 1021 yotta Y 1024 Yet another way to illustrate the unprecedented range of magnitudes that enables the functioning of modern societies is to compare them with

Any number between 1 and 10 will be a multiple of 100, 10 becomes 101, 20 is 2 × 101. The advantages of this become quickly apparent as the numbers grow bigger. A 10-fold jump brings us to items counted in hundreds (102) and then to thousands (103), tens of thousands (104), hundreds of thousands (105), and millions (106).

recent estimate is eighty-six billion.

This involves, first, understanding powers of ten; second, visualizing data over a wide range of magnitudes on graphs using logarithmic scales; and third, appreciating the meaning of magnitude scales, such as the decibel (dB) scale for the loudness of sounds and the Richter scale for the strength of earthquakes.