orders of magnitude

Orders of magnitude refer to the scale or size of a value expressed as powers of ten. For example, 1,000 (10^3) is one order of magnitude larger than 100 (10^2), and 10,000 (10^4) is two orders of magnitude larger than 100. They help compare very large or very small numbers efficiently. When something differs by one order of magnitude, it's multiplied or divided by 10; two orders mean by 100, three by 1,000, and so on. This concept is useful for understanding the relative size of quantities across different contexts, such as distances, populations, or quantities in science and engineering.