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An "order of magnitude" has no precise numerical meaning, it depends on what base you're working in. If the log of the number in base b increases by 1, you've i
by bscphil 6y ago
An "order of magnitude" has no precise numerical meaning, it depends on what base you're working in. If the log of the number in base b increases by 1, you've increased 1 order of magnitude with respect to that base. (I don't know why the parent said "20", my instinct is to say 14 orders of magnitude here.)
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- contravariant 6y agoI've usually heard it being used to describe powers of 10. I'd be willing to accept 14 orders of magnitude since we're talking about powers of 2, but I still can't figure out where they got 20 from. Hence my question.
- user5994461 6y agoOne billion is 14 orders. We're talking billionS, that's a fair bit more (pun intended).
- craftinator 6y agoMaybe they forgot that Windows calculator doesn't respect order of operations...