Tell me more ×
Mathematics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for people studying math at any level and professionals in related fields. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote -3 down vote favorite

As seen in the video game title NBA 2K13, they have used 2K13. But is it technically correct? I think that 2K13 => 200013!

EDIT: Sorry for the wrong reference to Roman Numerals

share|improve this question
1  
(-1) for "I know that K is used in the Roman Numeral System to represent 3 Zeros i.e. 000." - At least do some googling before you make such false claims. – TMM Jan 2 at 16:37
I read it somewhere, hence got confused. – Rahul Thakur Jan 2 at 16:39
1  
You should have complained eleven years ago :) – Rahul Narain Jan 2 at 16:48
It's not a complain, an acquaintance whom I told that I don't think 2K13 is correct brought this up to me, so was just confirming. – Rahul Thakur Jan 2 at 16:55
2  
2K13 is perfectly correct in the prefix-postfix SMS-generation positional notation system. – Arkamis Jan 2 at 16:55

closed as too localized by Jasper Loy, N. S., amWhy, Fabian, Thomas Jan 2 at 17:30

This question is unlikely to help any future visitors; it is only relevant to a small geographic area, a specific moment in time, or an extraordinarily narrow situation that is not generally applicable to the worldwide audience of the internet. For help making this question more broadly applicable, see the FAQ.

3 Answers

up vote 11 down vote accepted

The use of K as an abbreviation for $1000$ has nothing to do with Roman numerals: the Roman numeral for $1000$ is M. It derives from the prefix kilo-, used in the metric system to indicate $1000$ of some base unit. It is a non-standard usage, so there is no standard of technical correctness. In this case you should think of the K simply as an abbreviation for thousand and read it two thousand thirteen.

share|improve this answer
up vote 6 down vote
  1. $K\neq \text{''000''}$
  2. K does not correlate whatsoever with the roman numerals.
  3. In decimal notation, numbers are written as $\sum_{k=-\infty}^{\infty}a_n10^n$, therefore, 2K13 is not technically correct if we are using the standard decimal notation. Here it is to mean $2*K+13$ where $K=1000$
share|improve this answer
up vote 8 down vote

No, it is not “wrong”. The sense in which $\rm K$ is used here is indisputable because it is only a video game title, not to be taken too seriously. What they meant here was $\rm 2K + 13$.

Roman numerals are not connected with the metric system whatsoever. $\rm K$ belongs to the metric system, and $\rm M$ is the real Roman numeral for 1000.

share|improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.