"Order of Magnitude"
In advanced mathematics, as well as colloquially in popular culture, especially geek culture, the phrase "order of magnitude" is used to denote a change in a numeric quantity, usually a measurement, by a factor of 10; that is, the moving of the decimal point in a number one way or the other, possibly with the addition of significant zeros.
Occasionally the phrase "half an order of magnitude" is also used, generally in more informal contexts. Sometimes, this is used to denote a 5 to 1 change, or alternatively 101/2 to 1 (approximately 3.162 to 1).
Read more about this topic: Magnitude (mathematics)
Famous quotes containing the words order of, order and/or magnitude:
“My ideas are a curse.
They spring from a radical discontent
with the awful order of things.
I play clown. I play carpenter. I play nurse.
I play witch.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“One must love humanity in order to reach out into the unique essence of each individual: no one can be too low or too ugly.”
—Georg Büchner (1813–1837)
“We quaff the cup of life with eager haste without draining it, instead of which it only overflows the brim—objects press around us, filling the mind with their magnitude and with the throng of desires that wait upon them, so that we have no room for the thoughts of death.”
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830)