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I first noticed "k" being bandied about to mean "thousand dollars" in the 1980's in classified job ads. That was during the first wave of home computer popularity and most people knew "k" means 1,000 (actually as someone pointed out it means 1,024 when talking about bytes).
I always thought of "G" as being criminal slang, or at least coming from criminal slang. Bank robbers and kidnappers were always talking about "100 grand" this and "50 grand" that, at least in movies!
I was born in 1960 and became an IT professional in 1983.
It's okay. You can think of 1K as being one thousand all you like. The fact that it isn't is not a real hindrance. You can always just pretend that the usage actually arose from within failed US metrication initiatives in the 1970's rather than from popularization of geek-speak in the 1990's. That's not what actually happened, but again, what would it matter.
I quoted this just because it is funny.
What do you think the K in 1024 bytes stands for???? KILO or 1000 from where???? THE METRIC SYSTEM
K for 1000 has been used long before the proliferation of geek speak
People havent been running "5K's" (as an example) only since the 90's. The phrase has been around for much much longer than 20 years. 5K = 5 THOUSAND meters. Once again the metric system.
Not as funny as your failure to comprehend any of it. Call it what you will. The use of K was lifted out of what would eventually become known as the IT world by those wanting to advertise themselves as hip, savvy, with it, and connected to all the latest cutting edge technologies. IT is of course a binary or base-2 world, not a decimal, base-10 world. 1K is equal to 2^10, which of course is 1,024. That's kind of an immutable thing that you can't argue away.
While I'm at it, there's more reason to take MM as meaning "thousands" (just as pp. means pages and JJ. means Justices) than to think it would mean "millions", as in a thousand thousand. But hey, it is what it is. Feel free to eat peas with a knife if you like.
It's okay. You can think of 1K as being one thousand all you like. The fact that it isn't is not a real hindrance. You can always just pretend that the usage actually arose from within failed US metrication initiatives in the 1970's rather than from popularization of geek-speak in the 1990's. That's not what actually happened, but again, what would it matter.
Last time I looked, metric distances came in thousands. 10K =10,000 and in a 10K run.
Not everything is rooted in tech.
I too saw the G as grand, which is an historical colloquialism for $1,000. I do admit it is unusual, as the K for 1,000 is in more common usage these days.
Not as funny as your failure to comprehend any of it. Call it what you will. The use of K was lifted out of what would eventually become known as the IT world by those wanting to advertise themselves as hip, savvy, with it, and connected to all the latest cutting edge technologies. IT is of course a binary or base-2 world, not a decimal, base-10 world. 1K is equal to 2^10, which of course is 1,024. That's kind of an immutable thing that you can't argue away.
While I'm at it, there's more reason to take MM as meaning "thousands" (just as pp. means pages and JJ. means Justices) than to think it would mean "millions", as in a thousand thousand. But hey, it is what it is. Feel free to eat peas with a knife if you like.
In the brokerage industry, the use of M for 1,000 and MM for 1,000,000 dates back prior to the mid 80's when I first came across it. Reason was probably for clarity. Fewer mistakes than if one were writing up a trade ticket and had to stop and count the zeros.
In the brokerage industry, the use of M for 1,000 and MM for 1,000,000 dates back prior to the mid 80's when I first came across it. Reason was probably for clarity. Fewer mistakes than if one were writing up a trade ticket and had to stop and count the zeros.
This, our systems recognize 10m and 10mm and thousands and millions for order entry but not 10k
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