How do you say “powers of ten”?How to read exponential expressions, e.g., “2^16”?Origin of square and...
In Adventurer's League, is it possible to keep the Ring of Winter if you manage to acquire it in the Tomb of Annihilation adventure?
If nine coins are tossed, what is the probability that the number of heads is even?
Is it possible to counterspell the revised Artificer?
How do I deal with being jealous of my own players?
How can atoms be electrically neutral when there is a difference in the positions of the charges?
Why do members of Congress in committee hearings ask witnesses the same question multiple times?
What am I? I am in theaters and computer programs
Why is working on the same position for more than 15 years not a red flag?
Canadian citizen, on US no-fly list. What can I do in order to be allowed on flights which go through US airspace?
Can throughput exceed the bandwidth of a network
It took me a lot of time to make this, pls like. (YouTube Comments #1)
Pure Functions: Does "No Side Effects" Imply "Always Same Output, Given Same Input"?
Why is it "take a leak?"
Is divide-by-zero a security vulnerability?
Starting index at zero
When was drinking water recognized as crucial in marathon running?
Citing contemporaneous (interlaced?) preprints
Should we avoid writing fiction about historical events without extensive research?
Are small insurances worth it
How to mitigate "bandwagon attacking" from players?
Did Amazon pay $0 in taxes last year?
Practical reasons to have both a large police force and bounty hunting network?
What is the difference between a forward slip and a side slip?
How do you say “my friend is throwing a party, do you wanna come?” in german
How do you say “powers of ten”?
How to read exponential expressions, e.g., “2^16”?Origin of square and cube as verbsHow to read exponential expressions, e.g., “2^16”?When should we say 'Thanks' and when, 'Thank you'?What's the appropriate response to the “door knock” when you are in a fitting room?What's another way to say “which station should I get off?”Is it right to say “How much do I owe you”?How do you read powers and roots?What is the meaning of 'comminuent'Can you say “something” when referring to a person or thing?How do you say in a sentence that you have had many accidents and the last one happened last year?
When you have powers of 10, e.g. 102, the base is 10, so when the exponent is 2 you should not say power of 2. I believe "power of" refer to the base not to the exponent.
speech mathematics
edited yesterday
Mari-Lou A
62.6k55221461
asked yesterday
MariaMaria
3212
New contributor
Maria is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
|
show 2 more comments
When you have powers of 10, e.g. 102, the base is 10, so when the exponent is 2 you should not say power of 2. I believe "power of" refer to the base not to the exponent.
speech mathematics
edited yesterday
Mari-Lou A
62.6k55221461
asked yesterday
MariaMaria
3212
New contributor
Maria is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
1
Whether it's "power" or "powers" depends on the context, not the base.
– Hot Licks
20 hours ago
2
Power in to the power of refers to the exponent as a location or role, which is also called exponent. This is only one for the operation denoted by 10^2: ten to the power of two. In powers of ten, the word powers refers to the collection of results obtained by raising ten to the different integer exponents.
– user337391
20 hours ago
4
Every base is base 10.
– Pieter B
18 hours ago
What context do you need this in? If I understand you correctly there’s no concise idiom because there isn’t much reason (mathematically) to speak of “things raised to the nth power” as a unit, in the same way as we speak of “powers of n”: the mathematical series “powers of n” has important properties and connections to fundamental laws in mathematics. The series “things raised to the nth power” does not.
– Konrad Rudolph
16 hours ago
1
Possible duplicate of How to read exponential expressions, e.g., "2^16"?
– JJJ
16 hours ago
|
show 2 more comments
When you have powers of 10, e.g. 102, the base is 10, so when the exponent is 2 you should not say power of 2. I believe "power of" refer to the base not to the exponent.
speech mathematics
edited yesterday
Mari-Lou A
62.6k55221461
asked yesterday
MariaMaria
3212
New contributor
Maria is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
When you have powers of 10, e.g. 102, the base is 10, so when the exponent is 2 you should not say power of 2. I believe "power of" refer to the base not to the exponent.
speech mathematics
speech mathematics
edited yesterday
Mari-Lou A
62.6k55221461
asked yesterday
MariaMaria
3212
New contributor
Maria is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited yesterday
Mari-Lou A
62.6k55221461
asked yesterday
MariaMaria
3212
New contributor
Maria is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited yesterday
Mari-Lou A
62.6k55221461
edited yesterday
Mari-Lou A
62.6k55221461
edited yesterday
Mari-Lou A
62.6k55221461
62.6k55221461
asked yesterday
MariaMaria
3212
New contributor
Maria is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked yesterday
MariaMaria
3212
asked yesterday
MariaMaria
3212
3212
New contributor
Maria is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Maria is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Maria is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
1
Whether it's "power" or "powers" depends on the context, not the base.
– Hot Licks
20 hours ago
2
Power in to the power of refers to the exponent as a location or role, which is also called exponent. This is only one for the operation denoted by 10^2: ten to the power of two. In powers of ten, the word powers refers to the collection of results obtained by raising ten to the different integer exponents.
– user337391
20 hours ago
4
Every base is base 10.
– Pieter B
18 hours ago
What context do you need this in? If I understand you correctly there’s no concise idiom because there isn’t much reason (mathematically) to speak of “things raised to the nth power” as a unit, in the same way as we speak of “powers of n”: the mathematical series “powers of n” has important properties and connections to fundamental laws in mathematics. The series “things raised to the nth power” does not.
– Konrad Rudolph
16 hours ago
1
Possible duplicate of How to read exponential expressions, e.g., "2^16"?
– JJJ
16 hours ago
|
show 2 more comments
1
Whether it's "power" or "powers" depends on the context, not the base.
– Hot Licks
20 hours ago
2
Power in to the power of refers to the exponent as a location or role, which is also called exponent. This is only one for the operation denoted by 10^2: ten to the power of two. In powers of ten, the word powers refers to the collection of results obtained by raising ten to the different integer exponents.
– user337391
20 hours ago
4
Every base is base 10.
– Pieter B
18 hours ago
What context do you need this in? If I understand you correctly there’s no concise idiom because there isn’t much reason (mathematically) to speak of “things raised to the nth power” as a unit, in the same way as we speak of “powers of n”: the mathematical series “powers of n” has important properties and connections to fundamental laws in mathematics. The series “things raised to the nth power” does not.
– Konrad Rudolph
16 hours ago
1
Possible duplicate of How to read exponential expressions, e.g., "2^16"?
– JJJ
16 hours ago
1
1
Whether it's "power" or "powers" depends on the context, not the base.
– Hot Licks
20 hours ago
Whether it's "power" or "powers" depends on the context, not the base.
– Hot Licks
20 hours ago
2
2
Power in to the power of refers to the exponent as a location or role, which is also called exponent. This is only one for the operation denoted by 10^2: ten to the power of two. In powers of ten, the word powers refers to the collection of results obtained by raising ten to the different integer exponents.
– user337391
20 hours ago
Power in to the power of refers to the exponent as a location or role, which is also called exponent. This is only one for the operation denoted by 10^2: ten to the power of two. In powers of ten, the word powers refers to the collection of results obtained by raising ten to the different integer exponents.
– user337391
20 hours ago
4
4
Every base is base 10.
– Pieter B
18 hours ago
Every base is base 10.
– Pieter B
18 hours ago
What context do you need this in? If I understand you correctly there’s no concise idiom because there isn’t much reason (mathematically) to speak of “things raised to the nth power” as a unit, in the same way as we speak of “powers of n”: the mathematical series “powers of n” has important properties and connections to fundamental laws in mathematics. The series “things raised to the nth power” does not.
– Konrad Rudolph
16 hours ago
What context do you need this in? If I understand you correctly there’s no concise idiom because there isn’t much reason (mathematically) to speak of “things raised to the nth power” as a unit, in the same way as we speak of “powers of n”: the mathematical series “powers of n” has important properties and connections to fundamental laws in mathematics. The series “things raised to the nth power” does not.
– Konrad Rudolph
16 hours ago
1
1
Possible duplicate of How to read exponential expressions, e.g., "2^16"?
– JJJ
16 hours ago
Possible duplicate of How to read exponential expressions, e.g., "2^16"?
– JJJ
16 hours ago
|
show 2 more comments
8 Answers
8
active
oldest
votes
I express 3^4 as “three to the fourth power”
You can say “base to the nth power” or “base to the power of n”
It’s important to have the whole sentence to determine if it makes mathematical sense.
answered yesterday
JoeTaxpayerJoeTaxpayer
806517
This works for integers n, but what if we get real? 3^e or 3^π? Three to the pieth power?
– JJJ
15 hours ago
@JJJ - well I did say “base to the power of n”... you can replace n as you wish .
– JoeTaxpayer
15 hours ago
1
Ah yeah that works. ;)
– JJJ
14 hours ago
@JJJ It's also common to drop the "th power", and just say "base to the n", e.g "ten to the two is one hundred", or "e to the i pi is minus one"
– Chronocidal
10 hours ago
@Chronocidal very well, though I'd say it's a bit weird to write the i before the π in your example (though that may just be me).
– JJJ
10 hours ago
|
show 6 more comments
While "ten to the power of two" is correct (and the "power" does indeed refer to the "two" in this construction), it's also possible and very common to drop the "power of", giving "ten to the two". When reading out vacuum pressures for example, "ten to the power of minus six" would never be heard from a native speaking physicist; we'd just say "ten to the minus six". This is equally true in longer constructions like "three point five times ten to the minus seven".
answered yesterday
Chris HChris H
17.7k43176
1
It would generally be "to the minus sixth", or "10 to the 23rd".
– jamesqf
14 hours ago
2
@jamesqf not IME. I rarely hear positive ordinals used in this case for magnitudes, and never negative ordinals, unless followed by "power" (UK here). Also never "second", even "second power" - "squared" is occasional. When I say never I mean not once in my recollection in two physics departments and an engineering firm; I have a vague recollection that some of the older academics did use ordinals for magnitudes in the 90s. In formulae (x^5) cardinals are still more common but ordinals familiar - again only positive ones.
– Chris H
14 hours ago
@jamesqf I've never heard using ordinal numbers for negative powers: "ten to the third", but "ten to the minus three" (and I work in a field where powers of ten are fairly common).
– Massimo Ortolano
11 hours ago
@jamesqf "ten to the twenty-third power", or "ten to the twenty-three" - but not normally "ten to the twenty-third". So, "ten to the third" is10^⅓, not10^3
– Chronocidal
10 hours ago
1
I disagree with @Chronocidal ... "ten to the third" means 10^3.
– GEdgar
8 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
The term power refers to the exponent, not to the base.
10 to the power 2 is 100.
However powers of 10 are the products obtained from raising 10 by various exponents. So again, power does not refer to the base.
answered yesterday
Weather VaneWeather Vane
2,663515
3
also power of 2 sometimes
– Chase Ryan Taylor
yesterday
1
I always hear this phrased with ordinals rather than cardinals.
– chrylis
yesterday
1
@ChaseRyanTaylor Power of 2 refers to binary arithmetic and means 2 raised to some power. Whenever we say "a power of n" we mean n raised to some power, that n is the base. The second power of 2 is 2x2 which is 4, the third power of 2 is 2x2x2 which is 8 and so on. Similarly the second power of 8 is 64.
– BoldBen
yesterday
2
@chrylis Both cardinals and ordinals are fine for integer and simple variable powers, "x to the sixth power", "x to the nth power" and "x to the power n" are all absolutely acceptable. However if you need to use negative, fractional or irrational powers then ordinals rapidly become clumsy. "n to the power minus two upon three" or "x to the power pi" are much clearer than "n to the minus two-third-th power" or "x to the pi-th power".
– BoldBen
21 hours ago
@chrylis that may be so but how would you say 10^0? It can be the same with percentages. Some people say "the 5th centile/percentile" but it gets tricky for a non-integer value such as 1.5 and in this case the more usual "1.5 percent" works better. The question however is about the use of the word power rather than whether cardinal or ordinal numbers are be used to express them.
– Weather Vane
20 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
A common expression for power(s) of 10 in regular speech is order(s) of magnitude.
From Wikipedia:
An order of magnitude is an approximate measure of the number of digits that a number has in the commonly-used base-ten number system. It is equal to the logarithm (base 10) rounded to a whole number. For example, the order of magnitude of 1500 is 3, because 1500 = 1.5 × 10^3.
answered yesterday
JaseJase
311
New contributor
Jase is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
2
be careful as some fields consider powers of 2 to be orders of magnitude.
– james
yesterday
3
@james could you give some examples of "powers of 2 = orders of magnitude" please? As a physicist (and formerly engineer) with a fair bit of software background and even some knowledge of bus-level data transport and machine code I've never come across this use.
– Chris H
yesterday
1
@NickA the second of those is possible, but the in usual use of "order of magnitude" 1000=1024 anyway (if I say my new hard drive is 3 orders of magnitude bigger than my old one, whether I'm referring to GiB and TiB or GB and TB is irrelevant). So 2^10 is 3 orders of magnitude, fine. But james didn't say that, instead implying something more like an order of magnitude means a doubling
– Chris H
18 hours ago
1
@NickA further, the SI handbook, which I have in front of me, is perfectly happy with cm (it lists prefixes for 10^±1 and 10^±2 before the sequence of 10^3n). Ah OK, it sounds like we're not far apart.
– Chris H
18 hours ago
1
@ChrisH True, and I can't imagine (in terms of orders of magnitude) anything being more confusing than cm=-2, dm=-1, m=0, dam=1, hm=2, km=3, Mm=4..., So I retract the SI units one, although IEC applies :) (da and h I'd never heard of before now...)
– Nick A
18 hours ago
|
show 3 more comments
Surprisingly, this is explained fairly well on Wikipedia.
I believe "power of" refer to the base not to the exponent
Nope. The spoken forms of 102 are:
- 10 raised to the second power, or
- 10 raised to the power of two, or
- 10 to the power of two, or
- 10 to the two, or simply
- 10 squared
Since the original formulation base raised to the nth power means multiply 1 by base n times, the word power does indeed refer to the exponent.
answered 23 hours ago
UselessUseless
1,502912
"Raised" and "of" are optional in your examples. E.g., "x to the power y" is completely normal in mathematical English.
– David Richerby
16 hours ago
I think I'd usually omit the "power" as well in that case, but pretty much any combination seems acceptable.
– Useless
16 hours ago
add a comment |
"Powers of 10" does definitely refer to power expressions with 10 as a base rather than as an exponent. I don't have any sourced explanation (which makes this a terrible answer), but I imagine it's because of the similarity between the two phrases
- 10 raised to the second power
- the second power of 10
answered 21 hours ago
ArthurArthur
21417
add a comment |
The expression a power of 10 typically means the number you get when you raise 10 to a power (exponent, in other words) which itself is a number. I know it's a little bit confusing since you refer to the result of raising a number to a power also as a power, but that's just how people say it. Thus, you can say that the following is a list of powers of 10, that is, a list of the numbers you get when you raise 10 to a particular power such as 1, 2, 3, etc:
101 = 10
102 = 100
103 = 1000
etc.
Given the fact that the numbers 102 and 100 are equivalent, they both can be referred to as a power of ten. More specifically, it's ten raised to the second power or more compactly ten to the second power. Likewise, 108 would be pronounced ten to the eighth power or ten raised to the eighth power.
Usually, for powers that are greater then 3, you can drop the word "power". For example, instead of saying ten to the eighth power, you can just say ten to the eighth.
answered 8 hours ago
Mike RMike R
4,90321743
add a comment |
"10 raised to the power 2" is the correct pronunciation of 10^2
answered 22 hours ago
InfinityInfinity
204
New contributor
Infinity is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
1
This is not grammatical English.
– Azor Ahai
15 hours ago
Now what is "grammatical" English? If something has a specific scientific notation/jargon , its used everywhere
– Infinity
14 hours ago
2
"Grammatical" means accepted by native speakers. In your example, it should be "raised" and "power of 2."
– Azor Ahai
13 hours ago
2
"is what is the correct way to say" is not grammatical English.
– TrevorD
9 hours ago
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "97"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Maria is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f488302%2fhow-do-you-say-powers-of-ten%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
8 Answers
8
active
oldest
votes
8 Answers
8
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
I express 3^4 as “three to the fourth power”
You can say “base to the nth power” or “base to the power of n”
It’s important to have the whole sentence to determine if it makes mathematical sense.
answered yesterday
JoeTaxpayerJoeTaxpayer
806517
This works for integers n, but what if we get real? 3^e or 3^π? Three to the pieth power?
– JJJ
15 hours ago
@JJJ - well I did say “base to the power of n”... you can replace n as you wish .
– JoeTaxpayer
15 hours ago
1
Ah yeah that works. ;)
– JJJ
14 hours ago
@JJJ It's also common to drop the "th power", and just say "base to the n", e.g "ten to the two is one hundred", or "e to the i pi is minus one"
– Chronocidal
10 hours ago
@Chronocidal very well, though I'd say it's a bit weird to write the i before the π in your example (though that may just be me).
– JJJ
10 hours ago
|
show 6 more comments
I express 3^4 as “three to the fourth power”
You can say “base to the nth power” or “base to the power of n”
It’s important to have the whole sentence to determine if it makes mathematical sense.
answered yesterday
JoeTaxpayerJoeTaxpayer
806517
This works for integers n, but what if we get real? 3^e or 3^π? Three to the pieth power?
– JJJ
15 hours ago
@JJJ - well I did say “base to the power of n”... you can replace n as you wish .
– JoeTaxpayer
15 hours ago
1
Ah yeah that works. ;)
– JJJ
14 hours ago
@JJJ It's also common to drop the "th power", and just say "base to the n", e.g "ten to the two is one hundred", or "e to the i pi is minus one"
– Chronocidal
10 hours ago
@Chronocidal very well, though I'd say it's a bit weird to write the i before the π in your example (though that may just be me).
– JJJ
10 hours ago
|
show 6 more comments
I express 3^4 as “three to the fourth power”
You can say “base to the nth power” or “base to the power of n”
It’s important to have the whole sentence to determine if it makes mathematical sense.
answered yesterday
JoeTaxpayerJoeTaxpayer
806517
I express 3^4 as “three to the fourth power”
You can say “base to the nth power” or “base to the power of n”
It’s important to have the whole sentence to determine if it makes mathematical sense.
answered yesterday
JoeTaxpayerJoeTaxpayer
806517
edited 21 hours ago
answered yesterday
JoeTaxpayerJoeTaxpayer
806517
answered yesterday
JoeTaxpayerJoeTaxpayer
806517
answered yesterday
JoeTaxpayerJoeTaxpayer
806517
806517
This works for integers n, but what if we get real? 3^e or 3^π? Three to the pieth power?
– JJJ
15 hours ago
@JJJ - well I did say “base to the power of n”... you can replace n as you wish .
– JoeTaxpayer
15 hours ago
1
Ah yeah that works. ;)
– JJJ
14 hours ago
@JJJ It's also common to drop the "th power", and just say "base to the n", e.g "ten to the two is one hundred", or "e to the i pi is minus one"
– Chronocidal
10 hours ago
@Chronocidal very well, though I'd say it's a bit weird to write the i before the π in your example (though that may just be me).
– JJJ
10 hours ago
|
show 6 more comments
This works for integers n, but what if we get real? 3^e or 3^π? Three to the pieth power?
– JJJ
15 hours ago
@JJJ - well I did say “base to the power of n”... you can replace n as you wish .
– JoeTaxpayer
15 hours ago
1
Ah yeah that works. ;)
– JJJ
14 hours ago
@JJJ It's also common to drop the "th power", and just say "base to the n", e.g "ten to the two is one hundred", or "e to the i pi is minus one"
– Chronocidal
10 hours ago
@Chronocidal very well, though I'd say it's a bit weird to write the i before the π in your example (though that may just be me).
– JJJ
10 hours ago
This works for integers n, but what if we get real? 3^e or 3^π? Three to the pieth power?
– JJJ
15 hours ago
This works for integers n, but what if we get real? 3^e or 3^π? Three to the pieth power?
– JJJ
15 hours ago
@JJJ - well I did say “base to the power of n”... you can replace n as you wish .
– JoeTaxpayer
15 hours ago
@JJJ - well I did say “base to the power of n”... you can replace n as you wish .
– JoeTaxpayer
15 hours ago
1
1
Ah yeah that works. ;)
– JJJ
14 hours ago
Ah yeah that works. ;)
– JJJ
14 hours ago
@JJJ It's also common to drop the "th power", and just say "base to the n", e.g "ten to the two is one hundred", or "e to the i pi is minus one"
– Chronocidal
10 hours ago
@JJJ It's also common to drop the "th power", and just say "base to the n", e.g "ten to the two is one hundred", or "e to the i pi is minus one"
– Chronocidal
10 hours ago
@Chronocidal very well, though I'd say it's a bit weird to write the i before the π in your example (though that may just be me).
– JJJ
10 hours ago
@Chronocidal very well, though I'd say it's a bit weird to write the i before the π in your example (though that may just be me).
– JJJ
10 hours ago
|
show 6 more comments
While "ten to the power of two" is correct (and the "power" does indeed refer to the "two" in this construction), it's also possible and very common to drop the "power of", giving "ten to the two". When reading out vacuum pressures for example, "ten to the power of minus six" would never be heard from a native speaking physicist; we'd just say "ten to the minus six". This is equally true in longer constructions like "three point five times ten to the minus seven".
answered yesterday
Chris HChris H
17.7k43176
1
It would generally be "to the minus sixth", or "10 to the 23rd".
– jamesqf
14 hours ago
2
@jamesqf not IME. I rarely hear positive ordinals used in this case for magnitudes, and never negative ordinals, unless followed by "power" (UK here). Also never "second", even "second power" - "squared" is occasional. When I say never I mean not once in my recollection in two physics departments and an engineering firm; I have a vague recollection that some of the older academics did use ordinals for magnitudes in the 90s. In formulae (x^5) cardinals are still more common but ordinals familiar - again only positive ones.
– Chris H
14 hours ago
@jamesqf I've never heard using ordinal numbers for negative powers: "ten to the third", but "ten to the minus three" (and I work in a field where powers of ten are fairly common).
– Massimo Ortolano
11 hours ago
@jamesqf "ten to the twenty-third power", or "ten to the twenty-three" - but not normally "ten to the twenty-third". So, "ten to the third" is10^⅓, not10^3
– Chronocidal
10 hours ago
1
I disagree with @Chronocidal ... "ten to the third" means 10^3.
– GEdgar
8 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
While "ten to the power of two" is correct (and the "power" does indeed refer to the "two" in this construction), it's also possible and very common to drop the "power of", giving "ten to the two". When reading out vacuum pressures for example, "ten to the power of minus six" would never be heard from a native speaking physicist; we'd just say "ten to the minus six". This is equally true in longer constructions like "three point five times ten to the minus seven".
answered yesterday
Chris HChris H
17.7k43176
1
It would generally be "to the minus sixth", or "10 to the 23rd".
– jamesqf
14 hours ago
2
@jamesqf not IME. I rarely hear positive ordinals used in this case for magnitudes, and never negative ordinals, unless followed by "power" (UK here). Also never "second", even "second power" - "squared" is occasional. When I say never I mean not once in my recollection in two physics departments and an engineering firm; I have a vague recollection that some of the older academics did use ordinals for magnitudes in the 90s. In formulae (x^5) cardinals are still more common but ordinals familiar - again only positive ones.
– Chris H
14 hours ago
@jamesqf I've never heard using ordinal numbers for negative powers: "ten to the third", but "ten to the minus three" (and I work in a field where powers of ten are fairly common).
– Massimo Ortolano
11 hours ago
@jamesqf "ten to the twenty-third power", or "ten to the twenty-three" - but not normally "ten to the twenty-third". So, "ten to the third" is10^⅓, not10^3
– Chronocidal
10 hours ago
1
I disagree with @Chronocidal ... "ten to the third" means 10^3.
– GEdgar
8 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
While "ten to the power of two" is correct (and the "power" does indeed refer to the "two" in this construction), it's also possible and very common to drop the "power of", giving "ten to the two". When reading out vacuum pressures for example, "ten to the power of minus six" would never be heard from a native speaking physicist; we'd just say "ten to the minus six". This is equally true in longer constructions like "three point five times ten to the minus seven".
answered yesterday
Chris HChris H
17.7k43176
While "ten to the power of two" is correct (and the "power" does indeed refer to the "two" in this construction), it's also possible and very common to drop the "power of", giving "ten to the two". When reading out vacuum pressures for example, "ten to the power of minus six" would never be heard from a native speaking physicist; we'd just say "ten to the minus six". This is equally true in longer constructions like "three point five times ten to the minus seven".
answered yesterday
Chris HChris H
17.7k43176
answered yesterday
Chris HChris H
17.7k43176
answered yesterday
Chris HChris H
17.7k43176
answered yesterday
Chris HChris H
17.7k43176
17.7k43176
1
It would generally be "to the minus sixth", or "10 to the 23rd".
– jamesqf
14 hours ago
2
@jamesqf not IME. I rarely hear positive ordinals used in this case for magnitudes, and never negative ordinals, unless followed by "power" (UK here). Also never "second", even "second power" - "squared" is occasional. When I say never I mean not once in my recollection in two physics departments and an engineering firm; I have a vague recollection that some of the older academics did use ordinals for magnitudes in the 90s. In formulae (x^5) cardinals are still more common but ordinals familiar - again only positive ones.
– Chris H
14 hours ago
@jamesqf I've never heard using ordinal numbers for negative powers: "ten to the third", but "ten to the minus three" (and I work in a field where powers of ten are fairly common).
– Massimo Ortolano
11 hours ago
@jamesqf "ten to the twenty-third power", or "ten to the twenty-three" - but not normally "ten to the twenty-third". So, "ten to the third" is10^⅓, not10^3
– Chronocidal
10 hours ago
1
I disagree with @Chronocidal ... "ten to the third" means 10^3.
– GEdgar
8 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
1
It would generally be "to the minus sixth", or "10 to the 23rd".
– jamesqf
14 hours ago
2
@jamesqf not IME. I rarely hear positive ordinals used in this case for magnitudes, and never negative ordinals, unless followed by "power" (UK here). Also never "second", even "second power" - "squared" is occasional. When I say never I mean not once in my recollection in two physics departments and an engineering firm; I have a vague recollection that some of the older academics did use ordinals for magnitudes in the 90s. In formulae (x^5) cardinals are still more common but ordinals familiar - again only positive ones.
– Chris H
14 hours ago
@jamesqf I've never heard using ordinal numbers for negative powers: "ten to the third", but "ten to the minus three" (and I work in a field where powers of ten are fairly common).
– Massimo Ortolano
11 hours ago
@jamesqf "ten to the twenty-third power", or "ten to the twenty-three" - but not normally "ten to the twenty-third". So, "ten to the third" is10^⅓, not10^3
– Chronocidal
10 hours ago
1
I disagree with @Chronocidal ... "ten to the third" means 10^3.
– GEdgar
8 hours ago
1
1
It would generally be "to the minus sixth", or "10 to the 23rd".
– jamesqf
14 hours ago
It would generally be "to the minus sixth", or "10 to the 23rd".
– jamesqf
14 hours ago
2
2
@jamesqf not IME. I rarely hear positive ordinals used in this case for magnitudes, and never negative ordinals, unless followed by "power" (UK here). Also never "second", even "second power" - "squared" is occasional. When I say never I mean not once in my recollection in two physics departments and an engineering firm; I have a vague recollection that some of the older academics did use ordinals for magnitudes in the 90s. In formulae (x^5) cardinals are still more common but ordinals familiar - again only positive ones.
– Chris H
14 hours ago
@jamesqf not IME. I rarely hear positive ordinals used in this case for magnitudes, and never negative ordinals, unless followed by "power" (UK here). Also never "second", even "second power" - "squared" is occasional. When I say never I mean not once in my recollection in two physics departments and an engineering firm; I have a vague recollection that some of the older academics did use ordinals for magnitudes in the 90s. In formulae (x^5) cardinals are still more common but ordinals familiar - again only positive ones.
– Chris H
14 hours ago
@jamesqf I've never heard using ordinal numbers for negative powers: "ten to the third", but "ten to the minus three" (and I work in a field where powers of ten are fairly common).
– Massimo Ortolano
11 hours ago
@jamesqf I've never heard using ordinal numbers for negative powers: "ten to the third", but "ten to the minus three" (and I work in a field where powers of ten are fairly common).
– Massimo Ortolano
11 hours ago
@jamesqf "ten to the twenty-third power", or "ten to the twenty-three" - but not normally "ten to the twenty-third". So, "ten to the third" is
10^⅓, not 10^3– Chronocidal
10 hours ago
@jamesqf "ten to the twenty-third power", or "ten to the twenty-three" - but not normally "ten to the twenty-third". So, "ten to the third" is
10^⅓, not 10^3– Chronocidal
10 hours ago
1
1
I disagree with @Chronocidal ... "ten to the third" means 10^3.
– GEdgar
8 hours ago
I disagree with @Chronocidal ... "ten to the third" means 10^3.
– GEdgar
8 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
The term power refers to the exponent, not to the base.
10 to the power 2 is 100.
However powers of 10 are the products obtained from raising 10 by various exponents. So again, power does not refer to the base.
answered yesterday
Weather VaneWeather Vane
2,663515
3
also power of 2 sometimes
– Chase Ryan Taylor
yesterday
1
I always hear this phrased with ordinals rather than cardinals.
– chrylis
yesterday
1
@ChaseRyanTaylor Power of 2 refers to binary arithmetic and means 2 raised to some power. Whenever we say "a power of n" we mean n raised to some power, that n is the base. The second power of 2 is 2x2 which is 4, the third power of 2 is 2x2x2 which is 8 and so on. Similarly the second power of 8 is 64.
– BoldBen
yesterday
2
@chrylis Both cardinals and ordinals are fine for integer and simple variable powers, "x to the sixth power", "x to the nth power" and "x to the power n" are all absolutely acceptable. However if you need to use negative, fractional or irrational powers then ordinals rapidly become clumsy. "n to the power minus two upon three" or "x to the power pi" are much clearer than "n to the minus two-third-th power" or "x to the pi-th power".
– BoldBen
21 hours ago
@chrylis that may be so but how would you say 10^0? It can be the same with percentages. Some people say "the 5th centile/percentile" but it gets tricky for a non-integer value such as 1.5 and in this case the more usual "1.5 percent" works better. The question however is about the use of the word power rather than whether cardinal or ordinal numbers are be used to express them.
– Weather Vane
20 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
The term power refers to the exponent, not to the base.
10 to the power 2 is 100.
However powers of 10 are the products obtained from raising 10 by various exponents. So again, power does not refer to the base.
answered yesterday
Weather VaneWeather Vane
2,663515
3
also power of 2 sometimes
– Chase Ryan Taylor
yesterday
1
I always hear this phrased with ordinals rather than cardinals.
– chrylis
yesterday
1
@ChaseRyanTaylor Power of 2 refers to binary arithmetic and means 2 raised to some power. Whenever we say "a power of n" we mean n raised to some power, that n is the base. The second power of 2 is 2x2 which is 4, the third power of 2 is 2x2x2 which is 8 and so on. Similarly the second power of 8 is 64.
– BoldBen
yesterday
2
@chrylis Both cardinals and ordinals are fine for integer and simple variable powers, "x to the sixth power", "x to the nth power" and "x to the power n" are all absolutely acceptable. However if you need to use negative, fractional or irrational powers then ordinals rapidly become clumsy. "n to the power minus two upon three" or "x to the power pi" are much clearer than "n to the minus two-third-th power" or "x to the pi-th power".
– BoldBen
21 hours ago
@chrylis that may be so but how would you say 10^0? It can be the same with percentages. Some people say "the 5th centile/percentile" but it gets tricky for a non-integer value such as 1.5 and in this case the more usual "1.5 percent" works better. The question however is about the use of the word power rather than whether cardinal or ordinal numbers are be used to express them.
– Weather Vane
20 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
The term power refers to the exponent, not to the base.
10 to the power 2 is 100.
However powers of 10 are the products obtained from raising 10 by various exponents. So again, power does not refer to the base.
answered yesterday
Weather VaneWeather Vane
2,663515
The term power refers to the exponent, not to the base.
10 to the power 2 is 100.
However powers of 10 are the products obtained from raising 10 by various exponents. So again, power does not refer to the base.
answered yesterday
Weather VaneWeather Vane
2,663515
edited yesterday
answered yesterday
Weather VaneWeather Vane
2,663515
answered yesterday
Weather VaneWeather Vane
2,663515
answered yesterday
Weather VaneWeather Vane
2,663515
2,663515
3
also power of 2 sometimes
– Chase Ryan Taylor
yesterday
1
I always hear this phrased with ordinals rather than cardinals.
– chrylis
yesterday
1
@ChaseRyanTaylor Power of 2 refers to binary arithmetic and means 2 raised to some power. Whenever we say "a power of n" we mean n raised to some power, that n is the base. The second power of 2 is 2x2 which is 4, the third power of 2 is 2x2x2 which is 8 and so on. Similarly the second power of 8 is 64.
– BoldBen
yesterday
2
@chrylis Both cardinals and ordinals are fine for integer and simple variable powers, "x to the sixth power", "x to the nth power" and "x to the power n" are all absolutely acceptable. However if you need to use negative, fractional or irrational powers then ordinals rapidly become clumsy. "n to the power minus two upon three" or "x to the power pi" are much clearer than "n to the minus two-third-th power" or "x to the pi-th power".
– BoldBen
21 hours ago
@chrylis that may be so but how would you say 10^0? It can be the same with percentages. Some people say "the 5th centile/percentile" but it gets tricky for a non-integer value such as 1.5 and in this case the more usual "1.5 percent" works better. The question however is about the use of the word power rather than whether cardinal or ordinal numbers are be used to express them.
– Weather Vane
20 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
3
also power of 2 sometimes
– Chase Ryan Taylor
yesterday
1
I always hear this phrased with ordinals rather than cardinals.
– chrylis
yesterday
1
@ChaseRyanTaylor Power of 2 refers to binary arithmetic and means 2 raised to some power. Whenever we say "a power of n" we mean n raised to some power, that n is the base. The second power of 2 is 2x2 which is 4, the third power of 2 is 2x2x2 which is 8 and so on. Similarly the second power of 8 is 64.
– BoldBen
yesterday
2
@chrylis Both cardinals and ordinals are fine for integer and simple variable powers, "x to the sixth power", "x to the nth power" and "x to the power n" are all absolutely acceptable. However if you need to use negative, fractional or irrational powers then ordinals rapidly become clumsy. "n to the power minus two upon three" or "x to the power pi" are much clearer than "n to the minus two-third-th power" or "x to the pi-th power".
– BoldBen
21 hours ago
@chrylis that may be so but how would you say 10^0? It can be the same with percentages. Some people say "the 5th centile/percentile" but it gets tricky for a non-integer value such as 1.5 and in this case the more usual "1.5 percent" works better. The question however is about the use of the word power rather than whether cardinal or ordinal numbers are be used to express them.
– Weather Vane
20 hours ago
3
3
also power of 2 sometimes
– Chase Ryan Taylor
yesterday
also power of 2 sometimes
– Chase Ryan Taylor
yesterday
1
1
I always hear this phrased with ordinals rather than cardinals.
– chrylis
yesterday
I always hear this phrased with ordinals rather than cardinals.
– chrylis
yesterday
1
1
@ChaseRyanTaylor Power of 2 refers to binary arithmetic and means 2 raised to some power. Whenever we say "a power of n" we mean n raised to some power, that n is the base. The second power of 2 is 2x2 which is 4, the third power of 2 is 2x2x2 which is 8 and so on. Similarly the second power of 8 is 64.
– BoldBen
yesterday
@ChaseRyanTaylor Power of 2 refers to binary arithmetic and means 2 raised to some power. Whenever we say "a power of n" we mean n raised to some power, that n is the base. The second power of 2 is 2x2 which is 4, the third power of 2 is 2x2x2 which is 8 and so on. Similarly the second power of 8 is 64.
– BoldBen
yesterday
2
2
@chrylis Both cardinals and ordinals are fine for integer and simple variable powers, "x to the sixth power", "x to the nth power" and "x to the power n" are all absolutely acceptable. However if you need to use negative, fractional or irrational powers then ordinals rapidly become clumsy. "n to the power minus two upon three" or "x to the power pi" are much clearer than "n to the minus two-third-th power" or "x to the pi-th power".
– BoldBen
21 hours ago
@chrylis Both cardinals and ordinals are fine for integer and simple variable powers, "x to the sixth power", "x to the nth power" and "x to the power n" are all absolutely acceptable. However if you need to use negative, fractional or irrational powers then ordinals rapidly become clumsy. "n to the power minus two upon three" or "x to the power pi" are much clearer than "n to the minus two-third-th power" or "x to the pi-th power".
– BoldBen
21 hours ago
@chrylis that may be so but how would you say 10^0? It can be the same with percentages. Some people say "the 5th centile/percentile" but it gets tricky for a non-integer value such as 1.5 and in this case the more usual "1.5 percent" works better. The question however is about the use of the word power rather than whether cardinal or ordinal numbers are be used to express them.
– Weather Vane
20 hours ago
@chrylis that may be so but how would you say 10^0? It can be the same with percentages. Some people say "the 5th centile/percentile" but it gets tricky for a non-integer value such as 1.5 and in this case the more usual "1.5 percent" works better. The question however is about the use of the word power rather than whether cardinal or ordinal numbers are be used to express them.
– Weather Vane
20 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
A common expression for power(s) of 10 in regular speech is order(s) of magnitude.
From Wikipedia:
An order of magnitude is an approximate measure of the number of digits that a number has in the commonly-used base-ten number system. It is equal to the logarithm (base 10) rounded to a whole number. For example, the order of magnitude of 1500 is 3, because 1500 = 1.5 × 10^3.
answered yesterday
JaseJase
311
New contributor
Jase is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
2
be careful as some fields consider powers of 2 to be orders of magnitude.
– james
yesterday
3
@james could you give some examples of "powers of 2 = orders of magnitude" please? As a physicist (and formerly engineer) with a fair bit of software background and even some knowledge of bus-level data transport and machine code I've never come across this use.
– Chris H
yesterday
1
@NickA the second of those is possible, but the in usual use of "order of magnitude" 1000=1024 anyway (if I say my new hard drive is 3 orders of magnitude bigger than my old one, whether I'm referring to GiB and TiB or GB and TB is irrelevant). So 2^10 is 3 orders of magnitude, fine. But james didn't say that, instead implying something more like an order of magnitude means a doubling
– Chris H
18 hours ago
1
@NickA further, the SI handbook, which I have in front of me, is perfectly happy with cm (it lists prefixes for 10^±1 and 10^±2 before the sequence of 10^3n). Ah OK, it sounds like we're not far apart.
– Chris H
18 hours ago
1
@ChrisH True, and I can't imagine (in terms of orders of magnitude) anything being more confusing than cm=-2, dm=-1, m=0, dam=1, hm=2, km=3, Mm=4..., So I retract the SI units one, although IEC applies :) (da and h I'd never heard of before now...)
– Nick A
18 hours ago
|
show 3 more comments
A common expression for power(s) of 10 in regular speech is order(s) of magnitude.
From Wikipedia:
An order of magnitude is an approximate measure of the number of digits that a number has in the commonly-used base-ten number system. It is equal to the logarithm (base 10) rounded to a whole number. For example, the order of magnitude of 1500 is 3, because 1500 = 1.5 × 10^3.
answered yesterday
JaseJase
311
New contributor
Jase is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
2
be careful as some fields consider powers of 2 to be orders of magnitude.
– james
yesterday
3
@james could you give some examples of "powers of 2 = orders of magnitude" please? As a physicist (and formerly engineer) with a fair bit of software background and even some knowledge of bus-level data transport and machine code I've never come across this use.
– Chris H
yesterday
1
@NickA the second of those is possible, but the in usual use of "order of magnitude" 1000=1024 anyway (if I say my new hard drive is 3 orders of magnitude bigger than my old one, whether I'm referring to GiB and TiB or GB and TB is irrelevant). So 2^10 is 3 orders of magnitude, fine. But james didn't say that, instead implying something more like an order of magnitude means a doubling
– Chris H
18 hours ago
1
@NickA further, the SI handbook, which I have in front of me, is perfectly happy with cm (it lists prefixes for 10^±1 and 10^±2 before the sequence of 10^3n). Ah OK, it sounds like we're not far apart.
– Chris H
18 hours ago
1
@ChrisH True, and I can't imagine (in terms of orders of magnitude) anything being more confusing than cm=-2, dm=-1, m=0, dam=1, hm=2, km=3, Mm=4..., So I retract the SI units one, although IEC applies :) (da and h I'd never heard of before now...)
– Nick A
18 hours ago
|
show 3 more comments
A common expression for power(s) of 10 in regular speech is order(s) of magnitude.
From Wikipedia:
An order of magnitude is an approximate measure of the number of digits that a number has in the commonly-used base-ten number system. It is equal to the logarithm (base 10) rounded to a whole number. For example, the order of magnitude of 1500 is 3, because 1500 = 1.5 × 10^3.
answered yesterday
JaseJase
311
New contributor
Jase is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
A common expression for power(s) of 10 in regular speech is order(s) of magnitude.
From Wikipedia:
An order of magnitude is an approximate measure of the number of digits that a number has in the commonly-used base-ten number system. It is equal to the logarithm (base 10) rounded to a whole number. For example, the order of magnitude of 1500 is 3, because 1500 = 1.5 × 10^3.
answered yesterday
JaseJase
311
New contributor
Jase is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered yesterday
JaseJase
311
New contributor
Jase is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered yesterday
JaseJase
311
answered yesterday
JaseJase
311
311
New contributor
Jase is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Jase is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Jase is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
2
be careful as some fields consider powers of 2 to be orders of magnitude.
– james
yesterday
3
@james could you give some examples of "powers of 2 = orders of magnitude" please? As a physicist (and formerly engineer) with a fair bit of software background and even some knowledge of bus-level data transport and machine code I've never come across this use.
– Chris H
yesterday
1
@NickA the second of those is possible, but the in usual use of "order of magnitude" 1000=1024 anyway (if I say my new hard drive is 3 orders of magnitude bigger than my old one, whether I'm referring to GiB and TiB or GB and TB is irrelevant). So 2^10 is 3 orders of magnitude, fine. But james didn't say that, instead implying something more like an order of magnitude means a doubling
– Chris H
18 hours ago
1
@NickA further, the SI handbook, which I have in front of me, is perfectly happy with cm (it lists prefixes for 10^±1 and 10^±2 before the sequence of 10^3n). Ah OK, it sounds like we're not far apart.
– Chris H
18 hours ago
1
@ChrisH True, and I can't imagine (in terms of orders of magnitude) anything being more confusing than cm=-2, dm=-1, m=0, dam=1, hm=2, km=3, Mm=4..., So I retract the SI units one, although IEC applies :) (da and h I'd never heard of before now...)
– Nick A
18 hours ago
|
show 3 more comments
2
be careful as some fields consider powers of 2 to be orders of magnitude.
– james
yesterday
3
@james could you give some examples of "powers of 2 = orders of magnitude" please? As a physicist (and formerly engineer) with a fair bit of software background and even some knowledge of bus-level data transport and machine code I've never come across this use.
– Chris H
yesterday
1
@NickA the second of those is possible, but the in usual use of "order of magnitude" 1000=1024 anyway (if I say my new hard drive is 3 orders of magnitude bigger than my old one, whether I'm referring to GiB and TiB or GB and TB is irrelevant). So 2^10 is 3 orders of magnitude, fine. But james didn't say that, instead implying something more like an order of magnitude means a doubling
– Chris H
18 hours ago
1
@NickA further, the SI handbook, which I have in front of me, is perfectly happy with cm (it lists prefixes for 10^±1 and 10^±2 before the sequence of 10^3n). Ah OK, it sounds like we're not far apart.
– Chris H
18 hours ago
1
@ChrisH True, and I can't imagine (in terms of orders of magnitude) anything being more confusing than cm=-2, dm=-1, m=0, dam=1, hm=2, km=3, Mm=4..., So I retract the SI units one, although IEC applies :) (da and h I'd never heard of before now...)
– Nick A
18 hours ago
2
2
be careful as some fields consider powers of 2 to be orders of magnitude.
– james
yesterday
be careful as some fields consider powers of 2 to be orders of magnitude.
– james
yesterday
3
3
@james could you give some examples of "powers of 2 = orders of magnitude" please? As a physicist (and formerly engineer) with a fair bit of software background and even some knowledge of bus-level data transport and machine code I've never come across this use.
– Chris H
yesterday
@james could you give some examples of "powers of 2 = orders of magnitude" please? As a physicist (and formerly engineer) with a fair bit of software background and even some knowledge of bus-level data transport and machine code I've never come across this use.
– Chris H
yesterday
1
1
@NickA the second of those is possible, but the in usual use of "order of magnitude" 1000=1024 anyway (if I say my new hard drive is 3 orders of magnitude bigger than my old one, whether I'm referring to GiB and TiB or GB and TB is irrelevant). So 2^10 is 3 orders of magnitude, fine. But james didn't say that, instead implying something more like an order of magnitude means a doubling
– Chris H
18 hours ago
@NickA the second of those is possible, but the in usual use of "order of magnitude" 1000=1024 anyway (if I say my new hard drive is 3 orders of magnitude bigger than my old one, whether I'm referring to GiB and TiB or GB and TB is irrelevant). So 2^10 is 3 orders of magnitude, fine. But james didn't say that, instead implying something more like an order of magnitude means a doubling
– Chris H
18 hours ago
1
1
@NickA further, the SI handbook, which I have in front of me, is perfectly happy with cm (it lists prefixes for 10^±1 and 10^±2 before the sequence of 10^3n). Ah OK, it sounds like we're not far apart.
– Chris H
18 hours ago
@NickA further, the SI handbook, which I have in front of me, is perfectly happy with cm (it lists prefixes for 10^±1 and 10^±2 before the sequence of 10^3n). Ah OK, it sounds like we're not far apart.
– Chris H
18 hours ago
1
1
@ChrisH True, and I can't imagine (in terms of orders of magnitude) anything being more confusing than cm=-2, dm=-1, m=0, dam=1, hm=2, km=3, Mm=4..., So I retract the SI units one, although IEC applies :) (da and h I'd never heard of before now...)
– Nick A
18 hours ago
@ChrisH True, and I can't imagine (in terms of orders of magnitude) anything being more confusing than cm=-2, dm=-1, m=0, dam=1, hm=2, km=3, Mm=4..., So I retract the SI units one, although IEC applies :) (da and h I'd never heard of before now...)
– Nick A
18 hours ago
|
show 3 more comments
Surprisingly, this is explained fairly well on Wikipedia.
I believe "power of" refer to the base not to the exponent
Nope. The spoken forms of 102 are:
- 10 raised to the second power, or
- 10 raised to the power of two, or
- 10 to the power of two, or
- 10 to the two, or simply
- 10 squared
Since the original formulation base raised to the nth power means multiply 1 by base n times, the word power does indeed refer to the exponent.
answered 23 hours ago
UselessUseless
1,502912
"Raised" and "of" are optional in your examples. E.g., "x to the power y" is completely normal in mathematical English.
– David Richerby
16 hours ago
I think I'd usually omit the "power" as well in that case, but pretty much any combination seems acceptable.
– Useless
16 hours ago
add a comment |
Surprisingly, this is explained fairly well on Wikipedia.
I believe "power of" refer to the base not to the exponent
Nope. The spoken forms of 102 are:
- 10 raised to the second power, or
- 10 raised to the power of two, or
- 10 to the power of two, or
- 10 to the two, or simply
- 10 squared
Since the original formulation base raised to the nth power means multiply 1 by base n times, the word power does indeed refer to the exponent.
answered 23 hours ago
UselessUseless
1,502912
"Raised" and "of" are optional in your examples. E.g., "x to the power y" is completely normal in mathematical English.
– David Richerby
16 hours ago
I think I'd usually omit the "power" as well in that case, but pretty much any combination seems acceptable.
– Useless
16 hours ago
add a comment |
Surprisingly, this is explained fairly well on Wikipedia.
I believe "power of" refer to the base not to the exponent
Nope. The spoken forms of 102 are:
- 10 raised to the second power, or
- 10 raised to the power of two, or
- 10 to the power of two, or
- 10 to the two, or simply
- 10 squared
Since the original formulation base raised to the nth power means multiply 1 by base n times, the word power does indeed refer to the exponent.
answered 23 hours ago
UselessUseless
1,502912
Surprisingly, this is explained fairly well on Wikipedia.
I believe "power of" refer to the base not to the exponent
Nope. The spoken forms of 102 are:
- 10 raised to the second power, or
- 10 raised to the power of two, or
- 10 to the power of two, or
- 10 to the two, or simply
- 10 squared
Since the original formulation base raised to the nth power means multiply 1 by base n times, the word power does indeed refer to the exponent.
answered 23 hours ago
UselessUseless
1,502912
answered 23 hours ago
UselessUseless
1,502912
answered 23 hours ago
UselessUseless
1,502912
answered 23 hours ago
UselessUseless
1,502912
1,502912
"Raised" and "of" are optional in your examples. E.g., "x to the power y" is completely normal in mathematical English.
– David Richerby
16 hours ago
I think I'd usually omit the "power" as well in that case, but pretty much any combination seems acceptable.
– Useless
16 hours ago
add a comment |
"Raised" and "of" are optional in your examples. E.g., "x to the power y" is completely normal in mathematical English.
– David Richerby
16 hours ago
I think I'd usually omit the "power" as well in that case, but pretty much any combination seems acceptable.
– Useless
16 hours ago
"Raised" and "of" are optional in your examples. E.g., "x to the power y" is completely normal in mathematical English.
– David Richerby
16 hours ago
"Raised" and "of" are optional in your examples. E.g., "x to the power y" is completely normal in mathematical English.
– David Richerby
16 hours ago
I think I'd usually omit the "power" as well in that case, but pretty much any combination seems acceptable.
– Useless
16 hours ago
I think I'd usually omit the "power" as well in that case, but pretty much any combination seems acceptable.
– Useless
16 hours ago
add a comment |
"Powers of 10" does definitely refer to power expressions with 10 as a base rather than as an exponent. I don't have any sourced explanation (which makes this a terrible answer), but I imagine it's because of the similarity between the two phrases
- 10 raised to the second power
- the second power of 10
answered 21 hours ago
ArthurArthur
21417
add a comment |
"Powers of 10" does definitely refer to power expressions with 10 as a base rather than as an exponent. I don't have any sourced explanation (which makes this a terrible answer), but I imagine it's because of the similarity between the two phrases
- 10 raised to the second power
- the second power of 10
answered 21 hours ago
ArthurArthur
21417
add a comment |
"Powers of 10" does definitely refer to power expressions with 10 as a base rather than as an exponent. I don't have any sourced explanation (which makes this a terrible answer), but I imagine it's because of the similarity between the two phrases
- 10 raised to the second power
- the second power of 10
answered 21 hours ago
ArthurArthur
21417
"Powers of 10" does definitely refer to power expressions with 10 as a base rather than as an exponent. I don't have any sourced explanation (which makes this a terrible answer), but I imagine it's because of the similarity between the two phrases
- 10 raised to the second power
- the second power of 10
answered 21 hours ago
ArthurArthur
21417
answered 21 hours ago
ArthurArthur
21417
answered 21 hours ago
ArthurArthur
21417
answered 21 hours ago
ArthurArthur
21417
21417
add a comment |
add a comment |
The expression a power of 10 typically means the number you get when you raise 10 to a power (exponent, in other words) which itself is a number. I know it's a little bit confusing since you refer to the result of raising a number to a power also as a power, but that's just how people say it. Thus, you can say that the following is a list of powers of 10, that is, a list of the numbers you get when you raise 10 to a particular power such as 1, 2, 3, etc:
101 = 10
102 = 100
103 = 1000
etc.
Given the fact that the numbers 102 and 100 are equivalent, they both can be referred to as a power of ten. More specifically, it's ten raised to the second power or more compactly ten to the second power. Likewise, 108 would be pronounced ten to the eighth power or ten raised to the eighth power.
Usually, for powers that are greater then 3, you can drop the word "power". For example, instead of saying ten to the eighth power, you can just say ten to the eighth.
answered 8 hours ago
Mike RMike R
4,90321743
add a comment |
The expression a power of 10 typically means the number you get when you raise 10 to a power (exponent, in other words) which itself is a number. I know it's a little bit confusing since you refer to the result of raising a number to a power also as a power, but that's just how people say it. Thus, you can say that the following is a list of powers of 10, that is, a list of the numbers you get when you raise 10 to a particular power such as 1, 2, 3, etc:
101 = 10
102 = 100
103 = 1000
etc.
Given the fact that the numbers 102 and 100 are equivalent, they both can be referred to as a power of ten. More specifically, it's ten raised to the second power or more compactly ten to the second power. Likewise, 108 would be pronounced ten to the eighth power or ten raised to the eighth power.
Usually, for powers that are greater then 3, you can drop the word "power". For example, instead of saying ten to the eighth power, you can just say ten to the eighth.
answered 8 hours ago
Mike RMike R
4,90321743
add a comment |
The expression a power of 10 typically means the number you get when you raise 10 to a power (exponent, in other words) which itself is a number. I know it's a little bit confusing since you refer to the result of raising a number to a power also as a power, but that's just how people say it. Thus, you can say that the following is a list of powers of 10, that is, a list of the numbers you get when you raise 10 to a particular power such as 1, 2, 3, etc:
101 = 10
102 = 100
103 = 1000
etc.
Given the fact that the numbers 102 and 100 are equivalent, they both can be referred to as a power of ten. More specifically, it's ten raised to the second power or more compactly ten to the second power. Likewise, 108 would be pronounced ten to the eighth power or ten raised to the eighth power.
Usually, for powers that are greater then 3, you can drop the word "power". For example, instead of saying ten to the eighth power, you can just say ten to the eighth.
answered 8 hours ago
Mike RMike R
4,90321743
The expression a power of 10 typically means the number you get when you raise 10 to a power (exponent, in other words) which itself is a number. I know it's a little bit confusing since you refer to the result of raising a number to a power also as a power, but that's just how people say it. Thus, you can say that the following is a list of powers of 10, that is, a list of the numbers you get when you raise 10 to a particular power such as 1, 2, 3, etc:
101 = 10
102 = 100
103 = 1000
etc.
Given the fact that the numbers 102 and 100 are equivalent, they both can be referred to as a power of ten. More specifically, it's ten raised to the second power or more compactly ten to the second power. Likewise, 108 would be pronounced ten to the eighth power or ten raised to the eighth power.
Usually, for powers that are greater then 3, you can drop the word "power". For example, instead of saying ten to the eighth power, you can just say ten to the eighth.
answered 8 hours ago
Mike RMike R
4,90321743
edited 8 hours ago
answered 8 hours ago
Mike RMike R
4,90321743
answered 8 hours ago
Mike RMike R
4,90321743
answered 8 hours ago
Mike RMike R
4,90321743
4,90321743
add a comment |
add a comment |
"10 raised to the power 2" is the correct pronunciation of 10^2
answered 22 hours ago
InfinityInfinity
204
New contributor
Infinity is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
1
This is not grammatical English.
– Azor Ahai
15 hours ago
Now what is "grammatical" English? If something has a specific scientific notation/jargon , its used everywhere
– Infinity
14 hours ago
2
"Grammatical" means accepted by native speakers. In your example, it should be "raised" and "power of 2."
– Azor Ahai
13 hours ago
2
"is what is the correct way to say" is not grammatical English.
– TrevorD
9 hours ago
add a comment |
"10 raised to the power 2" is the correct pronunciation of 10^2
answered 22 hours ago
InfinityInfinity
204
New contributor
Infinity is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
1
This is not grammatical English.
– Azor Ahai
15 hours ago
Now what is "grammatical" English? If something has a specific scientific notation/jargon , its used everywhere
– Infinity
14 hours ago
2
"Grammatical" means accepted by native speakers. In your example, it should be "raised" and "power of 2."
– Azor Ahai
13 hours ago
2
"is what is the correct way to say" is not grammatical English.
– TrevorD
9 hours ago
add a comment |
"10 raised to the power 2" is the correct pronunciation of 10^2
answered 22 hours ago
InfinityInfinity
204
New contributor
Infinity is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
"10 raised to the power 2" is the correct pronunciation of 10^2
answered 22 hours ago
InfinityInfinity
204
New contributor
Infinity is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 5 hours ago
answered 22 hours ago
InfinityInfinity
204
New contributor
Infinity is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered 22 hours ago
InfinityInfinity
204
answered 22 hours ago
InfinityInfinity
204
204
New contributor
Infinity is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Infinity is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Infinity is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
1
This is not grammatical English.
– Azor Ahai
15 hours ago
Now what is "grammatical" English? If something has a specific scientific notation/jargon , its used everywhere
– Infinity
14 hours ago
2
"Grammatical" means accepted by native speakers. In your example, it should be "raised" and "power of 2."
– Azor Ahai
13 hours ago
2
"is what is the correct way to say" is not grammatical English.
– TrevorD
9 hours ago
add a comment |
1
This is not grammatical English.
– Azor Ahai
15 hours ago
Now what is "grammatical" English? If something has a specific scientific notation/jargon , its used everywhere
– Infinity
14 hours ago
2
"Grammatical" means accepted by native speakers. In your example, it should be "raised" and "power of 2."
– Azor Ahai
13 hours ago
2
"is what is the correct way to say" is not grammatical English.
– TrevorD
9 hours ago
1
1
This is not grammatical English.
– Azor Ahai
15 hours ago
This is not grammatical English.
– Azor Ahai
15 hours ago
Now what is "grammatical" English? If something has a specific scientific notation/jargon , its used everywhere
– Infinity
14 hours ago
Now what is "grammatical" English? If something has a specific scientific notation/jargon , its used everywhere
– Infinity
14 hours ago
2
2
"Grammatical" means accepted by native speakers. In your example, it should be "raised" and "power of 2."
– Azor Ahai
13 hours ago
"Grammatical" means accepted by native speakers. In your example, it should be "raised" and "power of 2."
– Azor Ahai
13 hours ago
2
2
"is what is the correct way to say" is not grammatical English.
– TrevorD
9 hours ago
"is what is the correct way to say" is not grammatical English.
– TrevorD
9 hours ago
add a comment |
Maria is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Maria is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Maria is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Maria is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f488302%2fhow-do-you-say-powers-of-ten%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
1
Whether it's "power" or "powers" depends on the context, not the base.
– Hot Licks
20 hours ago
2
Power in to the power of refers to the exponent as a location or role, which is also called exponent. This is only one for the operation denoted by 10^2: ten to the power of two. In powers of ten, the word powers refers to the collection of results obtained by raising ten to the different integer exponents.
– user337391
20 hours ago
4
Every base is base 10.
– Pieter B
18 hours ago
What context do you need this in? If I understand you correctly there’s no concise idiom because there isn’t much reason (mathematically) to speak of “things raised to the nth power” as a unit, in the same way as we speak of “powers of n”: the mathematical series “powers of n” has important properties and connections to fundamental laws in mathematics. The series “things raised to the nth power” does not.
– Konrad Rudolph
16 hours ago
1
Possible duplicate of How to read exponential expressions, e.g., "2^16"?
– JJJ
16 hours ago