Originally posted by CFWhitman
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For the record, I've never heard of subsequent terms in a geometric progression being referred to as orders of magnitude (for context, I have a Masters degree in Mathematics). It is entirely possible that my university simply didn't use this notation/description, but to suggest that it is standard is, I think, going too far. Descriptive terms such as these were inconsistent even within my own department, so what must they be like throughout the entire world?
As a final plea: when discussing matters of this nature, PLEASE don't cite Wikipedia. No academic would base conclusions on "the journal in which anybody can arbitrarily alter the contents", just as no reasonable doctor would base their medical advice on "the journal of what my friends have seen". Wikipedia is a good resource and what it says should not be dismissed out of hand, but it could almost be the reason for the mantra "trust, but verify.
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