What Does “MM” Stand for in Dollars?

There are a few different ways to abbreviate large numbers. Some abbreviations for million options may surprise you, as is also true for some of the other large number abbreviations. Unfortunately, there isn’t mm for million a consistent approach to labeling units. The least ambiguous approach is to simply write them out in words, such as “$ thousands.” This is CFI’s recommended method, to avoid any potential confusion.

Think of your computer expressing bytes of memory as kilobyte, megabyte or gigabyte. However, when it comes to billion, we don’t really see G or MMM as the abbreviation for billion. We are more likely to see a headline that reads the government spent $60B on new project.

Different Abbreviations for Thousand, Million & Billion

For example, the standard Class B rate starts at $25/M for the first $100M; then $15/M for the next $400M; then $10/M for the next $2MM. “M” is the most common abbreviation for “million.” If you’re going to abbreviate “million,” it would usually turn into this form. It makes the most sense considering that “million” starts with the letter “M.” Most abbreviations follow this standard practice. It would be bad form to mix K and MM because they are two different systems of notation. The best path would be to determine what your audience is most likely to understand.

I have worked 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. I have had the same dilemma and come to the conclusion that using k for thousands and MM for millions is a reasonable and pragmatic thing to do. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers.

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Thus, MM is the same as writing “M multiplied by M,” which is equal to “1,000 times 1,000”, which equals 1,000,000 (one million). This guide will explore how the notation should be used, as well as alternative symbols that are used in practice. This guide will, MM (or lowercase “mm”) denotes that the units of figures presented are in millions. I saw a headline recently in The Daily Journal of Commerce that read the new downtown post office was to be built for $89M. In the world of accounting and financial analysis that reads $89 thousand dollars, but we know from context that the headline writer meant $89 Million dollars. We sometimes have to code switch and use context to determine what the author is telling us.

This approach combines Roman numerals and abbreviations. It has become less common due to the potential for confusion. If you do use these abbreviations, be sure to clearly define them in the text. The use of two m’s to denote millions is becoming less common. Frequently, in finance and accounting settings now, an analyst will use k to denote thousands and a capitalized M to denote millions.

In short, how do you write a million dollars?

In oil and gas, m is used for thousands and mm is for millions. The most commonly seen short forms for thousand, million, billion and trillion in North America and the United Kingdom, respectively, are outlined in the table below. However, it can lead to confusion, particularly in financial contexts.

• Thus, we’re left with k and MM as to unambiguous ways to denote thousands and millions respectively.
• For example, the standard Class B rate starts at $25/M for the first $100M; then $15/M for the next $400M; then $10/M for the next $2MM.
• This abbreviation is usually found in every day transactions in business, accounting, and banking.
• Honestly I’m indifferent but inconsistency causes confusion.
• That line may be expressed, for instance, as $5MM single and $15MM aggregate.

B for Billion isn’t Greek or Roman; it is just the first letter of the word billion; so much for consistency. While the fields of accounting, banking and finance have adopted the Roman tradition, other fields such as computer programming and the high-tech industry have adopted Greek-influenced abbreviations. K comes from the Greek word kilo which means a thousand. So if we stay consistent with the Greek abbreviations, then billion would be shown as a letter G (Giga).

M vs. MM – What Is The Correct Abbreviation for “Million”?

Thus, we’re left with k and MM as to unambiguous ways to denote thousands and millions respectively. However, I often see where those who are dealing with financing (banks and investment houses for bonds) use the MM for millions of dollars. In the general environment of municipal government, for dollars we use K for thousands, M for millions and B for billions.

The Hindu – Arabic numeral system is what we have used ever since. This numerical system has the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. It was first created in India, and from there, it progressively spread to Arabia and China. While the concept can seem confusing at first, it helps if you can understand that M is supposed to equal 1,000.

The Latin numeral MM is frequently used to designate that the units used in presenting information (financial and non-financial) are in millions. The example below shows how figures can be portrayed in millions. Honestly I’m indifferent but inconsistency causes confusion.