Thanks Marv. Excellent post! In addition, we often use strange math symbols that should be explained. Since we often need to express very large and very small numbers, it is easier to convert them to powers of ten and use exponential notation.
Here's how to understand these alien symbols: -------------------------------------------------------------------- Power of 10 Prefix Symbol 24 yotta Y 21 zetta Z 18 exa E 15 peta P 12 tera T 9 giga G 6 mega M 3 kilo k 2 hecto h 1 deka da -1 deci d -2 centi c -3 milli m -6 micro u -9 nano n -12 pico p -15 femto f -18 atto a -21 zepto z Exponential Notation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You may see numbers like 10^-6 or 1e-6 The "^" symbol is not part of a smiley, it means "10 to the power of". For example, 10^2 means 10 * 10, or 100. A minus sign means to divide by. For example, 10^-2 = 1 / 100 Here's one way to use them. -------------------------------------------------------------------- A millihelen (mH) is the amount of beauty required to launch one ship. A microhelen (uH) is the amount of beauty required to motivate one sailor. A megahelen (MH) is the amount of beauty required to make the sailor think in any other terms than a one-night stand. But this is all rather bogus, since we are applying metric prefixes to Troy units. Other Dubious Metrics: 10^12 dactyls = 1 teradactyl 10^15 philes = 1 petaphile 10^18 stentials = 1 exastential 10^21 piccolos = 1 gigolo 10^18 minations = 1 examination 10^15 coats = 1 petacoat 10^12 bulls = 1 terabull 10^12 microphones = 1 megaphone 10^12 pins = 1 terrapin billions and billions = 1 Sagan 10^9 lows = 1 gigalow 10^9 antics = 1 gigantic 10^9 questions = 1 gigawhat 10^9 micrometers = 1 kilometer 10^6 bicycles = 2 megacycles 10^6 airs = 1 millionair 2^10^3 millinaries = 4 seminaries 2x10^3 mockingbirds = 2 kilo mockingbird 10 cards = 1 decacard 10 decor = 1 hector 10 dence = 1 decadence 10 halls with boughs of holly = decahalls with etc. 10 millipedes = 1 centipede 10 monologues = 5 dialogues 10 rations = 1 decoration 3 1/3 tridents = 1 decadent 2 bulls = 1 Pair a bull 2 homosexuals = 1 bisexual 1 centipede/second = 1 velocipede 1/2 Soviet press agency = 1 demitasse 10^-1 mate = 1 decimate 10^-2 mentals = 1 centimental 10^-3 ink machines = 1 millink machine 10^-3 on = 1 million 10^-5 dollars = 1 millicent 10^-6 fish = 1 microfiche 10^-6 scopes = 1 microscope 10^-9 goats = 1 nanogoat 10^-9 Nanettes = 1 nanoNanette 10^-12 boos = 1 picoboo 10^-12 boulevards = 1 pico-boulevard 10^-12 dillies = 1 picodilly 10^-15 fatales = 1 femtofatale 10^-15 bismol = 1 fepto bismol 10^-18 boys = 1 atto boy nano-nano = a prefix designating 10^-18 http://www.galactic-guide.com/articles/2R143.html -------------------------------------------------------------------- Best Regards, Mike Monett -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. Instructions for unsubscribing may be found at: http://silverlist.org To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
