order of magnitude

• Order of magnitude


  A way to compare the approximate size of different objects
• Objects around the same order of magnitude

  • Apple and orange
• Pineapple compared to lemon

  Pineapple is around 10 times larger, so it is 1 order of magnitude larger
• Dog compared to woodlouse

  Dog is around 100 times longer, so it is 2 orders of magnitude longer
• How to determine order of magnitude

  Count the number of zeros - each zero represents 1 order of magnitude
• Calculating order of magnitude difference

  1. Divide the larger measurement by the smaller measurement to get the number of times larger

  2. The number of zeros in this result gives the order of magnitude difference