

Ask HN: Why does MM denote millions of dollars? - Havoc

Per SI unit convention a single M indicates mega/millions. A quick Google suggests its related to Roman numerals - but MM in Roman numerals would suggest 2000, not a million. Other Google results indicate that M stands for thousands, not millions and so 1000x1000. It seems unnecessarily confusing to me.<p>As far as I can tell this convention is used mainly in the startup/VC scene, so I'm hoping someone here has a conclusive answer as to why MM is used.
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cd34

      M = 1000 in Roman Numerals
      MM = 1000 1000s, or, 1 million
    

Years ago, I think it was G. Gordon Liddy that used to refer to billions in a
similar manner. i.e. 10 billion dollars was spoken as 10 thousand million so
people grasped the enormity of the number.

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matthewowen
As a Latinist, this makes me cringe. Roman numerals are added, not multiplied.
MM = 2000.

Not saying that this isn't the root; just that it is deeply dissatisfying.

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GigabyteCoin
This forum details the answer quite well:
<http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=460147>

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Havoc
I don't quite follow. That thread contain quite a few opinions on the matter &
none seem particularly conclusive to me. Is there one in particular that you
feel details the answer?

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1123581321
It's much easier to read when scrawled on a napkin and avoids the
thousand/million ambiguity. 30MM is 30 million, 3BB is 3 billion. I learned it
from a business professor.

