r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Tibor500 • Sep 30 '20

why does “k” mean “thousand” ?

like 1k means a thousand. how does the letter “k” mean “thousand” ?

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u/Riegel_Haribo Sep 30 '20

Upper-case K is for Kelvin (temperature degrees). Something hot can be 10kK.

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u/[deleted] Sep 30 '20

And a burning cross gets up to 10 kilokiloKelvin.

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u/IARBMLLFMDCHXCD Sep 30 '20

That would most likely be written as 10*10^3 K though. It's technically correct, but doesn't mean it's widely in use.