�1000k - what does 'k' mean

[lankeela]

What does the 'k' stand for as in �1000k when referring to money (salary for instance) I know it means grand or thousand, but why the letter 'k'

[paddy_36]

The k stands for kilo, which equals 1000.

[gen2]

Don't you remember it from the Y2K (year 2 thousand) it was only 5 years ago.

[Loosehead]

so �1000k = �1000000.

[Haggisdj]

I was led to believe that, in this instance, it came from the world of computing. 10 kilobytes were written as 10k and it then crept into job advertisments when stating the salary 20 - 25k.

(Kilobyte is atually 1024 bytes)

[Loosehead]

Kilo = 1000, Kibi=1024. 1024 is in fact a kibibyte. In computing though K does generally mean 1024.

[croft-inn]

K is the roman numeral for 1000. Therefore, 10k is the same as 10,000.

[gardenknowin]

Sorry, Croft-inn, but M is Roman numeral for 1000, not K. Kilo comes from Greek.

[lankeela]

This was my whole point - what does the k stand for as m is the roman numeral for 1000 - the kilo bit makes sense, but I didn't know where it started. Most people seem to give the same answer - it means 1000 - but I KNOW it means 1000 just didn't know why the letter k!

Thanks anyway

[shaneystar]

All to do with SI prefixes according to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SI_prefix
If you scroll down it says about K as a prefix for salaries.
I don't know if this will help you find the answer..it's all double dutch to me !

[lankeela]

Wow! Thats what I call an explanation.

Thank you for putting me out of my misery.

lankeela

[Chillum]

The salaries thing ties in with what I was told, i.e. that the K should only be used when describing an "amount per year".

[girliemuppet]

K did come from the computing term in the 80's, I think it came with the yuppie era. So K although now meaning 1000 derived from 1024 bytes = 1K.

Of course in america because it was derived from this, some people tried to sue companies advertising 25K as salary, when they only got paid 25 x 1000 instead of 25 x 1024!!!! Now everyone accepts that K is 1000!

[Ilovematthew]

K means...Karat
karat means...
noun
A unit of measure for the finest gold,equal to part. Pure gold is 24k; gold that is 50% pure is 12k.
That is what k means in the golden world!!!
Thanx!!!

[lankeela]

Took your time with that one!