Why is "k" used as a thousand 'symbol'?

Question

I'm just curious 'coz I see lots of people use k as a thousand symbol/sign..like for example, 1k=1000... so why do you think "k" is used instead of other letters?..also, if you know, who and when was it discovered or first used?..

please help me with this 'coz I'm planning of submitting this to my math teacher...thanks...

Answer 1

K=Kilo. You see things like kilograms and others used in other countries. That is because it is the system called SI from Systeme International (which is French). Every country but the U.S. uses SI units. We have inches, they have centimeters.

Anyway, its K because in international trading, k is used because obviously the U.S. is only one nation and everybody elses uses it. To avoid confusion, it would be easier to use K rather G for grand or anyother name for thousand.

History:
The kilo was "officially adopted in 1795 (though in common use before that), it comes from the Greek χίλιοι ("khilioi"), meaning thousand."-Wikipedia

Heres a link to the source where you can read more about it and it will help in your project:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilo

Answer 2

K Thousand

Answer 3

kilo- (symbol: k) is a prefix in the SI and other systems of units denoting 103 or 1000. For example:

one kilogram is 1000 grams
one kilometre is 1000 metres
one kilowatt is 1000 watts
one kilojoule is 1000 joules

Officially adopted in 1795 (though in common use before that), it comes from the Greek χίλιοι ("khilioi"), meaning thousand.

Answer 4

kilo- (symbol: k) is a prefix in the SI and other systems of units denoting 103 or 1000. For example:

* one kilogram is 1000 grams
* one kilometre is 1000 metres
* one kilowatt is 1000 watts
* one kilojoule is 1000 joules

Officially adopted in 1795 (though in common use before that), it comes from the Greek χίλιοι ("khilioi"), meaning thousand.

"Kilo" is often used by itself as an abbreviation for "kilogram". Also, technical people often use the term "k", pronounced like the letter, to refer to a thousand of something, especially units of money or population.[citation needed] On the other hand, the kilometre is sometimes informally abbreviated to "k"; in this context it is widely used in the United States in reference to running races (for example, a "10k"). "Click" or "klick" can also be heard in informal usage, especially in the U.S. military.

Source: Wikipedia

Answer 5

Just so you know, 6th grade here, K STANDS FOR KILO MEANING A THOUSAND =1000 in the metric system. What if you say that man is 1000 years old, he's 1k years old if it was a hunded = 100 years old it would be 1h, 1 hectometre..... I think.

Answer 6

Nowadays K is symbolized in thousand
can everybody answer me

Answer 7

it comes from the metric system K = kilo = 1000
Example: 10k = 10 kilometers

Answer 8

Actually k = 1024 or 2^10 in computer programing

Answer 9

K stands for kilo, which ( if I'm not mistaken is Latin ) and metric designation for a thousand.

Answer 10

K=kilo, which is the prefix indicating one thousand.