How do you say “powers of ten”?How to read exponential expressions, e.g., “2^16”?Origin of square and...

Levi-Civita symbol: 3D matrix

Why is it "take a leak?"

How can atoms be electrically neutral when there is a difference in the positions of the charges?

Book about a time-travel war fought by computers

Reason why dimensional travelling would be restricted

Is it possible to make a clamp function shorter than a ternary in JS?

Is 長 in Japanese related to “naga” in Thai and Sanskrit?

lead or lag function to get several values, not just the nth

What am I? I am in theaters and computer programs

I can't die. Who am I?

Are small insurances worth it

What's the values for the Freq_Interval column in MSDB.dbo.SysSchedules when Freq_Type is weekly and more than one day is selected in the schedule?

A right or the right?

I encountered my boss during an on-site interview at another company. Should I bring it up when seeing him next time?

Canadian citizen, on US no-fly list. What can I do in order to be allowed on flights which go through US airspace?

Where is the fallacy here?

VAT refund for a conference ticket in Sweden

Giving a talk in my old university, how prominently should I tell students my salary?

Difference between 'stomach' and 'uterus'

What could trigger powerful quakes on icy world?

Can I become debt free or should I file for bankruptcy? How do I manage my debt and finances?

What are all the squawk codes?

What are the issues with an additional (limited) concentration slot instead of Bladesong?

Is it possible to convert a suspension fork to rigid by drilling it?



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?













5















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.










share|improve this question









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
    15 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
    15 hours ago








  • 3





    Every base is base 10.

    – Pieter B
    12 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
    11 hours ago








  • 1





    Possible duplicate of How to read exponential expressions, e.g., "2^16"?

    – JJJ
    11 hours ago
















5















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.










share|improve this question









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
    15 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
    15 hours ago








  • 3





    Every base is base 10.

    – Pieter B
    12 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
    11 hours ago








  • 1





    Possible duplicate of How to read exponential expressions, e.g., "2^16"?

    – JJJ
    11 hours ago














5












5








5


1






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.










share|improve this question









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






share|improve this question









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.











share|improve this question









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.









share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 21 hours ago









Mari-Lou A

62.6k55221461




62.6k55221461






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




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
    15 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
    15 hours ago








  • 3





    Every base is base 10.

    – Pieter B
    12 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
    11 hours ago








  • 1





    Possible duplicate of How to read exponential expressions, e.g., "2^16"?

    – JJJ
    11 hours ago














  • 1





    Whether it's "power" or "powers" depends on the context, not the base.

    – Hot Licks
    15 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
    15 hours ago








  • 3





    Every base is base 10.

    – Pieter B
    12 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
    11 hours ago








  • 1





    Possible duplicate of How to read exponential expressions, e.g., "2^16"?

    – JJJ
    11 hours ago








1




1





Whether it's "power" or "powers" depends on the context, not the base.

– Hot Licks
15 hours ago





Whether it's "power" or "powers" depends on the context, not the base.

– Hot Licks
15 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
15 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
15 hours ago






3




3





Every base is base 10.

– Pieter B
12 hours ago





Every base is base 10.

– Pieter B
12 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
11 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
11 hours ago






1




1





Possible duplicate of How to read exponential expressions, e.g., "2^16"?

– JJJ
11 hours ago





Possible duplicate of How to read exponential expressions, e.g., "2^16"?

– JJJ
11 hours ago










8 Answers
8






active

oldest

votes


















16














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.






share|improve this answer


























  • This works for integers n, but what if we get real? 3^e or 3^π? Three to the pieth power?

    – JJJ
    10 hours ago











  • @JJJ - well I did say “base to the power of n”... you can replace n as you wish .

    – JoeTaxpayer
    10 hours ago






  • 1





    Ah yeah that works. ;)

    – JJJ
    9 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
    5 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
    5 hours ago



















11














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".






share|improve this answer



















  • 1





    It would generally be "to the minus sixth", or "10 to the 23rd".

    – jamesqf
    9 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
    8 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
    6 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
    5 hours ago








  • 1





    I disagree with @Chronocidal ... "ten to the third" means 10^3.

    – GEdgar
    3 hours ago





















10














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.






share|improve this answer





















  • 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
    19 hours ago






  • 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
    16 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
    15 hours ago



















3














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.







share|improve this answer








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
    19 hours ago






  • 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
    19 hours ago






  • 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
    13 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
    13 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
    13 hours ago





















3














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.






share|improve this answer
























  • "Raised" and "of" are optional in your examples. E.g., "x to the power y" is completely normal in mathematical English.

    – David Richerby
    11 hours ago











  • I think I'd usually omit the "power" as well in that case, but pretty much any combination seems acceptable.

    – Useless
    11 hours ago



















3














"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






share|improve this answer































    0














    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.






    share|improve this answer

































      -3














      "10 raised to the power 2" is the correct pronunciation of 10^2






      share|improve this answer










      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
        10 hours ago













      • Now what is "grammatical" English? If something has a specific scientific notation/jargon , its used everywhere

        – Infinity
        9 hours ago






      • 2





        "Grammatical" means accepted by native speakers. In your example, it should be "raised" and "power of 2."

        – Azor Ahai
        8 hours ago








      • 1





        "is what is the correct way to say" is not grammatical English.

        – TrevorD
        4 hours ago











      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.










      draft saved

      draft discarded


















      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









      16














      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.






      share|improve this answer


























      • This works for integers n, but what if we get real? 3^e or 3^π? Three to the pieth power?

        – JJJ
        10 hours ago











      • @JJJ - well I did say “base to the power of n”... you can replace n as you wish .

        – JoeTaxpayer
        10 hours ago






      • 1





        Ah yeah that works. ;)

        – JJJ
        9 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
        5 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
        5 hours ago
















      16














      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.






      share|improve this answer


























      • This works for integers n, but what if we get real? 3^e or 3^π? Three to the pieth power?

        – JJJ
        10 hours ago











      • @JJJ - well I did say “base to the power of n”... you can replace n as you wish .

        – JoeTaxpayer
        10 hours ago






      • 1





        Ah yeah that works. ;)

        – JJJ
        9 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
        5 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
        5 hours ago














      16












      16








      16







      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.






      share|improve this answer















      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.







      share|improve this answer














      share|improve this answer



      share|improve this answer








      edited 16 hours ago

























      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
        10 hours ago











      • @JJJ - well I did say “base to the power of n”... you can replace n as you wish .

        – JoeTaxpayer
        10 hours ago






      • 1





        Ah yeah that works. ;)

        – JJJ
        9 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
        5 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
        5 hours ago



















      • This works for integers n, but what if we get real? 3^e or 3^π? Three to the pieth power?

        – JJJ
        10 hours ago











      • @JJJ - well I did say “base to the power of n”... you can replace n as you wish .

        – JoeTaxpayer
        10 hours ago






      • 1





        Ah yeah that works. ;)

        – JJJ
        9 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
        5 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
        5 hours ago

















      This works for integers n, but what if we get real? 3^e or 3^π? Three to the pieth power?

      – 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
      10 hours ago













      @JJJ - well I did say “base to the power of n”... you can replace n as you wish .

      – JoeTaxpayer
      10 hours ago





      @JJJ - well I did say “base to the power of n”... you can replace n as you wish .

      – JoeTaxpayer
      10 hours ago




      1




      1





      Ah yeah that works. ;)

      – JJJ
      9 hours ago





      Ah yeah that works. ;)

      – JJJ
      9 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
      5 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
      5 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
      5 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
      5 hours ago













      11














      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".






      share|improve this answer



















      • 1





        It would generally be "to the minus sixth", or "10 to the 23rd".

        – jamesqf
        9 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
        8 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
        6 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
        5 hours ago








      • 1





        I disagree with @Chronocidal ... "ten to the third" means 10^3.

        – GEdgar
        3 hours ago


















      11














      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".






      share|improve this answer



















      • 1





        It would generally be "to the minus sixth", or "10 to the 23rd".

        – jamesqf
        9 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
        8 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
        6 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
        5 hours ago








      • 1





        I disagree with @Chronocidal ... "ten to the third" means 10^3.

        – GEdgar
        3 hours ago
















      11












      11








      11







      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".






      share|improve this answer













      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".







      share|improve this answer












      share|improve this answer



      share|improve this answer










      answered 19 hours ago









      Chris HChris H

      17.6k43176




      17.6k43176








      • 1





        It would generally be "to the minus sixth", or "10 to the 23rd".

        – jamesqf
        9 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
        8 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
        6 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
        5 hours ago








      • 1





        I disagree with @Chronocidal ... "ten to the third" means 10^3.

        – GEdgar
        3 hours ago
















      • 1





        It would generally be "to the minus sixth", or "10 to the 23rd".

        – jamesqf
        9 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
        8 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
        6 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
        5 hours ago








      • 1





        I disagree with @Chronocidal ... "ten to the third" means 10^3.

        – GEdgar
        3 hours ago










      1




      1





      It would generally be "to the minus sixth", or "10 to the 23rd".

      – jamesqf
      9 hours ago





      It would generally be "to the minus sixth", or "10 to the 23rd".

      – jamesqf
      9 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
      8 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
      8 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
      6 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
      6 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
      5 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
      5 hours ago






      1




      1





      I disagree with @Chronocidal ... "ten to the third" means 10^3.

      – GEdgar
      3 hours ago







      I disagree with @Chronocidal ... "ten to the third" means 10^3.

      – GEdgar
      3 hours ago













      10














      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.






      share|improve this answer





















      • 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
        19 hours ago






      • 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
        16 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
        15 hours ago
















      10














      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.






      share|improve this answer





















      • 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
        19 hours ago






      • 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
        16 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
        15 hours ago














      10












      10








      10







      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.






      share|improve this answer















      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.







      share|improve this answer














      share|improve this answer



      share|improve this answer








      edited yesterday

























      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
        19 hours ago






      • 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
        16 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
        15 hours ago














      • 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
        19 hours ago






      • 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
        16 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
        15 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
      19 hours ago





      @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
      19 hours ago




      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
      16 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
      16 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
      15 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
      15 hours ago











      3














      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.







      share|improve this answer








      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
        19 hours ago






      • 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
        19 hours ago






      • 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
        13 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
        13 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
        13 hours ago


















      3














      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.







      share|improve this answer








      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
        19 hours ago






      • 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
        19 hours ago






      • 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
        13 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
        13 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
        13 hours ago
















      3












      3








      3







      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.







      share|improve this answer








      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.








      share|improve this answer








      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.









      share|improve this answer



      share|improve this answer






      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 19 hours ago









      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
        19 hours ago






      • 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
        19 hours ago






      • 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
        13 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
        13 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
        13 hours ago
















      • 2





        be careful as some fields consider powers of 2 to be orders of magnitude.

        – james
        19 hours ago






      • 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
        19 hours ago






      • 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
        13 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
        13 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
        13 hours ago










      2




      2





      be careful as some fields consider powers of 2 to be orders of magnitude.

      – james
      19 hours ago





      be careful as some fields consider powers of 2 to be orders of magnitude.

      – james
      19 hours ago




      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
      19 hours ago





      @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
      19 hours ago




      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
      13 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
      13 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
      13 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
      13 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
      13 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
      13 hours ago













      3














      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.






      share|improve this answer
























      • "Raised" and "of" are optional in your examples. E.g., "x to the power y" is completely normal in mathematical English.

        – David Richerby
        11 hours ago











      • I think I'd usually omit the "power" as well in that case, but pretty much any combination seems acceptable.

        – Useless
        11 hours ago
















      3














      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.






      share|improve this answer
























      • "Raised" and "of" are optional in your examples. E.g., "x to the power y" is completely normal in mathematical English.

        – David Richerby
        11 hours ago











      • I think I'd usually omit the "power" as well in that case, but pretty much any combination seems acceptable.

        – Useless
        11 hours ago














      3












      3








      3







      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.






      share|improve this answer













      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.







      share|improve this answer












      share|improve this answer



      share|improve this answer










      answered 18 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
        11 hours ago











      • I think I'd usually omit the "power" as well in that case, but pretty much any combination seems acceptable.

        – Useless
        11 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
        11 hours ago











      • I think I'd usually omit the "power" as well in that case, but pretty much any combination seems acceptable.

        – Useless
        11 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
      11 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
      11 hours ago













      I think I'd usually omit the "power" as well in that case, but pretty much any combination seems acceptable.

      – Useless
      11 hours ago





      I think I'd usually omit the "power" as well in that case, but pretty much any combination seems acceptable.

      – Useless
      11 hours ago











      3














      "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






      share|improve this answer




























        3














        "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






        share|improve this answer


























          3












          3








          3







          "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






          share|improve this answer













          "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







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered 16 hours ago









          ArthurArthur

          21417




          21417























              0














              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.






              share|improve this answer






























                0














                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.






                share|improve this answer




























                  0












                  0








                  0







                  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.






                  share|improve this answer















                  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.







                  share|improve this answer














                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer








                  edited 3 hours ago

























                  answered 3 hours ago









                  Mike RMike R

                  4,90321743




                  4,90321743























                      -3














                      "10 raised to the power 2" is the correct pronunciation of 10^2






                      share|improve this answer










                      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
                        10 hours ago













                      • Now what is "grammatical" English? If something has a specific scientific notation/jargon , its used everywhere

                        – Infinity
                        9 hours ago






                      • 2





                        "Grammatical" means accepted by native speakers. In your example, it should be "raised" and "power of 2."

                        – Azor Ahai
                        8 hours ago








                      • 1





                        "is what is the correct way to say" is not grammatical English.

                        – TrevorD
                        4 hours ago
















                      -3














                      "10 raised to the power 2" is the correct pronunciation of 10^2






                      share|improve this answer










                      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
                        10 hours ago













                      • Now what is "grammatical" English? If something has a specific scientific notation/jargon , its used everywhere

                        – Infinity
                        9 hours ago






                      • 2





                        "Grammatical" means accepted by native speakers. In your example, it should be "raised" and "power of 2."

                        – Azor Ahai
                        8 hours ago








                      • 1





                        "is what is the correct way to say" is not grammatical English.

                        – TrevorD
                        4 hours ago














                      -3












                      -3








                      -3







                      "10 raised to the power 2" is the correct pronunciation of 10^2






                      share|improve this answer










                      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







                      share|improve this answer










                      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.









                      share|improve this answer



                      share|improve this answer








                      edited 25 mins ago





















                      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 17 hours ago









                      InfinityInfinity

                      104




                      104




                      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
                        10 hours ago













                      • Now what is "grammatical" English? If something has a specific scientific notation/jargon , its used everywhere

                        – Infinity
                        9 hours ago






                      • 2





                        "Grammatical" means accepted by native speakers. In your example, it should be "raised" and "power of 2."

                        – Azor Ahai
                        8 hours ago








                      • 1





                        "is what is the correct way to say" is not grammatical English.

                        – TrevorD
                        4 hours ago














                      • 1





                        This is not grammatical English.

                        – Azor Ahai
                        10 hours ago













                      • Now what is "grammatical" English? If something has a specific scientific notation/jargon , its used everywhere

                        – Infinity
                        9 hours ago






                      • 2





                        "Grammatical" means accepted by native speakers. In your example, it should be "raised" and "power of 2."

                        – Azor Ahai
                        8 hours ago








                      • 1





                        "is what is the correct way to say" is not grammatical English.

                        – TrevorD
                        4 hours ago








                      1




                      1





                      This is not grammatical English.

                      – Azor Ahai
                      10 hours ago







                      This is not grammatical English.

                      – Azor Ahai
                      10 hours ago















                      Now what is "grammatical" English? If something has a specific scientific notation/jargon , its used everywhere

                      – Infinity
                      9 hours ago





                      Now what is "grammatical" English? If something has a specific scientific notation/jargon , its used everywhere

                      – Infinity
                      9 hours ago




                      2




                      2





                      "Grammatical" means accepted by native speakers. In your example, it should be "raised" and "power of 2."

                      – Azor Ahai
                      8 hours ago







                      "Grammatical" means accepted by native speakers. In your example, it should be "raised" and "power of 2."

                      – Azor Ahai
                      8 hours ago






                      1




                      1





                      "is what is the correct way to say" is not grammatical English.

                      – TrevorD
                      4 hours ago





                      "is what is the correct way to say" is not grammatical English.

                      – TrevorD
                      4 hours ago










                      Maria is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










                      draft saved

                      draft discarded


















                      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.




                      draft saved


                      draft discarded














                      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





















































                      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







                      Popular posts from this blog

                      VNC viewer RFB protocol error: bad desktop size 0x0I Cannot Type the Key 'd' (lowercase) in VNC Viewer...

                      Couldn't open a raw socket. Error: Permission denied (13) (nmap)Is it possible to run networking commands...

                      Why not use the yoke to control yaw, as well as pitch and roll? Announcing the arrival of...