RE: Mathematical and Scientific Standards?

[<Marsha -dot- Kamish -at- shell -dot- com>]

I knew I'd forget something. I'm working in the oil & gas industry. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Geoff Hart [mailto:ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca]
Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 5:08 PM
To: TECHWR-L; Kamish, Marsha G SEPCO-EPW-U
Subject: Mathematical and Scientific Standards?


Marsha Kamish wonders: <<Do any of you know where I can get a list of  
how to write or abbreviate things like the word 'million?' I've seen  
it mm and MM and mln. Is there any standard documented?>>

Before we can give you a good answer, you'll need to specify what  
area you're working in. The Council of Science Editors publishes a  
style guide for the sciences in general, most professional  
associations such as the American Medical Writers' Association and  
American Chemical Society have their own style guide, every journal  
in creation seems to have its own style guide, and different  
industries have their own standards (e.g., the U.S. military's MILSPEC).

So your answer is: "it depends". <g> Speaking from the scientific  
perspective (i.e,. editing for peer-reviewed journals), "million" is  
universally abbreviated M as the prefix to a unit (e.g., Mg =  
megagrams = 1 metric tonne), or is spelled out in full or as the  
numeral (e.g., we performed 1 million bootstrap randomizations, we  
counted exactly 2 000 000 bugs).

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Geoff Hart   ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca

(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)

www.geoff-hart.com

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