$M and $MM
$M and $MM
(OP)
In all of the companies I've worked, I see the 'thousands' abbreviated as M and Millions as MM when presenting money (dollars typically) as in the following:
$ 125,000 would be $125M
$1,125,000 would be $1.25MM
Is this a hold-over from Roman numerals? Why not use K for thousands and M for millions?
$ 125,000 would be $125M
$1,125,000 would be $1.25MM
Is this a hold-over from Roman numerals? Why not use K for thousands and M for millions?
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RE: $M and $MM
i think ?
RE: $M and $MM
RE: $M and $MM
-Kirby
Kirby Wilkerson
Remember, first define the problem, then solve it.
RE: $M and $MM
The Roman Numerals "M" and by extension "MM" tend (in this industry) to be used more with volumes than with money. If you said "kSCF" or "kbbl" you wouldn't have much communication (and you would really have a problem with "MSCF" being "mega ft^3 at standard conditions").
On the other hand I often see "$123k" or "$123m" used as thousands and millions respectively. Every now and then I see $123M, but that seems really ambiguous to me (I know that the standard symbol for 10^6 is M for mega, but people who use Roman numerals would be pretty sure it was 10^3).
It is unfortunate that "million" starts with a symbol that looks like the Roman Numeral for 1,000, but that is just the way it is.
David
RE: $M and $MM
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: $M and $MM
RE: $M and $MM
David
RE: $M and $MM
It's when they aren't defined and people are relying on what they think is a convention that problems occur.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: $M and $MM
Anyway doesn't MM mean 2000 in roman numerals?
Perhaps MM denotes M x M in this case.
RE: $M and $MM
You are exactly right on both counts. In Roman Numerals "MM" is "2000". In oil field speak "MM" is "M x M" or one million. The earliest reference I've been able to find to "MM" was in the 1930's and it doesn't matter if everyone in the industry realized how very wrong it is, it isn't going away.
I've seen MM=10^6 used in the Oil & Gas industry all over the world, the first time I saw MMm3 (meaning millions of cubic meters) I laughed. I saw a Canadian annual report last year where a company stated their volumes as "MME3m3" meaning "millions of cubic meters at standard conditions times 10^3". Canada is the only place that I see E3m3 which means k(Nm^3), but is a bit "clearer" than km3 which would probably be taken as cubic kilometers.
David
RE: $M and $MM
RE: $M and $MM