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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

Rahul Thakur
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    (-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 02 '13 at 16:37
  • I read it somewhere, hence got confused. – Rahul Thakur Jan 02 '13 at 16:39
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    You should have complained eleven years ago :) –  Jan 02 '13 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 02 '13 at 16:55
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    2K13 is perfectly correct in the prefix-postfix SMS-generation positional notation system. – Emily Jan 02 '13 at 16:55
  • It's common in Electronic Eng. - e.g. 3v3 is 3.3v, 10M2 resistor is 10.2 MOhm. Note actually that voltage is the only time I've ever seen it done with the unit; usually it's just the multiplier. – OJFord Jun 03 '15 at 19:05

3 Answers3

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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.

Brian M. Scott
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  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 $K=1000$
CBenni
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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.

P.K.
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