How to say 0.00001

[aha123]

I want to know how to say 0.00001. Saying point zero zero zero zero one is very awkward in a presentation when I need to say it many many times. Is there a more condense or more scientific way to say it? say "1 e to minus 5" because 1e-5 = 0.00001?

 

[SoothingDave]

Ten millionths

 

[teechar]

I need to say it many many times.

Can you not give it a name? What does it represent?

 

[jutfrank]

You can express that number as ten to the minus five.

 

[teechar]

or "point four zeros one". However, I'd still like to get an answer to my post #3.

 

[lotus888]

point zero zero zero zero one

zero point zero zero zero zero one

one times ten to the minus five

ten millionths

point zero one thousandths


In spoken language, we don't say "one e to the minus 5."


We often say it with the units (often in scientific notation):

point zero one milligrams
ten microns

 

[Rover_KE]

I was taught to say nought point nought nought nought nought one.

 

[lotus888]

The leading zero has meaning and is preferred in engineering terms.

 

[SoothingDave]

This is exactly why we have units like millimeters, micrometers, nanometers. Or kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes. To avoid long strings of zeroes.

 

[aha123]

point zero zero zero zero one

zero point zero zero zero zero one

one times ten to the minus five

ten millionths

point zero one thousandths


In spoken language, we don't say "one e to the minus 5."


We often say it with the units (often in scientific notation):

point zero one milligrams
ten microns

I like one times ten to the minus five. Can I further reduce it to "ten to the minus five"? If not mistaken, I think I heard people saying "ten to the minus five" for 0.00001 in the meetings before.

 

[jutfrank]

Read post #4.

You don't need to say one times, for obvious reasons.

 

[GoesStation]

I like "one times ten to the minus five". Can I further reduce it to "ten to the minus five"? If I'm not mistaken, I think I've heard people saying "ten to the minus five" for 0.00001 in [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] meetings before.

Yes. "Ten to the minus five" is completely natural. There's no need to multiply it by one.

 

[Rover_KE]

It depends on your audience, of course.

If my old maths teacher, Ron Ganser, ever taught me what 'ten to the minus five' meant, I've never had cause to recall it in 70 years, though I do remember I'd call it nought point nought nought nought nought one.