mm abbreviation

However, there has been a growing tendency to use K as the symbol for thousands instead of M. Abbreviating one million dollars is done using the above abbreviations. Generally, the abbreviation with two M’s is preferred in finance. When plural, as in “millions,” it refers to multiples of 1,000,000.

  • But if M and MM are used, non-experts might not even be aware that M is a symbol for thousands and get confused.
  • A. You’ve identified two commonly used conventions in finance, one derived from Greek and the other from Latin, but neither one is standard.
  • Regretfully, until the USA goes metric there’s going to continue to be problem with this.
  • It seems like that the safest choice to ensure comprehension is to use K and MM, but something about mixing the symbols just doesn’t seem right to me.

Unicode symbols

  • As a result, “M” simply became shorthand for adding three zeros and thus “MM” became the shorthand for adding six zeros.
  • The word “million” can be paired with the suffix “-aire” to form the word millionaire which indicates an individual with a million or more dollars.
  • However, I would not bet that that is a standard abbreviation.
  • For that reason, in financial contexts it’s best to define up front the convention you are using—whether it’s M and MM and MMM or K and M and B (or G) or something else—to make sure your readers are on the same page.
  • Thus, we’re left with k and MM as to unambiguous ways to denote thousands and millions respectively.

By placing the first occurrence of a given symbol (abbreviation) in each article or presentation within parentheses you remove all doubt about what you mean. However, I often see where those who are dealing with financing (banks and investment houses for bonds) use the MM for millions of dollars. I generally use $___MM, which was, and still is, often used by accountants and economists. Before “k” was adopted as the colloquial way of writing a thousand (i.e. $35k to mean $35,000), it was common to use “M” instead; “M” being the Roman Numeral for 1,000.

Developmental Editing, 2nd Edition: A Handbook for Freelancers, Authors, and Publishers, by Scott Norton

  • In Japanese typography, these square symbols are used for laying out unit symbols without distorting the grid layout of text characters.
  • The best path would be to determine what your audience is most likely to understand.
  • If you’re confused about the letter designations that stand for thousands and millions, you’re not alone.
  • If K and MM are used, it’s bad style because the symbols are being mixed up.
  • This document is written for a general professional audience.
  • However, millions range from 1,000,000 to 999,999,999 so there can be a maximum of eight zeros if you are referencing a 100 million (100,000,000).

I have worked mm meaning in equity markets for 20 years and poor abbreviations drive me crazy. Regretfully, until the USA goes metric there’s going to continue to be problem with this. In Japanese typography, these square symbols are used for laying out unit symbols without distorting the grid layout of text characters.

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Other numbers, such as “thousand,” have more interesting abbreviations, such as “k.” The three letters “mil” are very clearly defined as mbeaning normal balance million, so you shouldn’t run into any issues. K is also used in computing to mean “kilobyte,” but mostly in commercial contexts as a shortening of KB (see CMOS 10.49). To further muddy the waters, K can also mean “kelvin,” which is the base unit of temperature.

mm abbreviation

What are the correct abbreviations for millions, billions and trillions in a financial context?

mm abbreviation

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