What does "$10MM" mean?

[joeu2004]

Not exactly an Excel question, but "$10MM" was used in an Excel
question posted in these newsgroups.

What exactly does $10MM mean?

In a Google search for $10MM, I found two online news articles in
which $10MM was in the headline, but the text spoke of "10 million
dollars".

If it means "10 million dollars", as I suspect, why not write $10M?

When I look at $10MM, I think of "10 million million dollars" -- that
is, 10 trillion dollars (10^12).

But the context of the Excel question suggests to me that that is not
what was intended.

 

[Chip Pearson]

MM is a pretty standard abbreviation for Million. It comes from Latin
"Mille" meaning "thousand", so MM is a "thousand thousands" equals one
million.


--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com
(email address is on the web site)

 

[Fred Smith]

MM is used for million by people who use M to mean thousand. In my experience,
bond traders fall into this category. It would be nice if they joined the 21st
century and switched to K and M like the rest of the world.

 

[joeu2004]

MM is a pretty standard abbreviation for Million. It comes from Latin
"Mille" meaning "thousand", so MM is a "thousand thousands" equals one
million.

Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense, given the French meaning of
"mille", too.

I am used to "M" being an abbreviation for "mega", which in
engineering circles means million. And in anticipation of the endless
debate over whether that means 1000*1000 or 1024*1024, I hasten to
point out that MHz -- meaning 1,000,000 hertz -- existed long before
we started counting memory capacity in multiples of 1024. In fact,
some of the first "1K" memory chips contained only 1000 bits (1x1K).
My point is: the engineering meaning of "M" and "K" is context-
sensitive, and it always has been. Nevertheless, I am aware of IEEE
efforts to redefine the prefix and/or abbreviation for "million".

 

[Guest]

Using the standard Si units

M = Mega
m = mille

google "si units" for help

 

[joeu2004]

Using the standard Si units
M = Mega
m = mille
google "si units" for help

Look again. I think you confused "milli" with "mille".

 

[Guest]

MM is used for million by people who recognize that some other people use M
to mean thousand (like the hundreds of millions of humans with a romance
language as their native language). I use k for a thousand and mm for a
million and I am very much a part of the 21st century. mm is unambiguous and
harmless.

 

[Guest]

mm is not "unambiguous and harmless" as it is the standard abbreviation for
millimeter. Better to spell numbers out entirely.

Dave