ISO/IEC 80000, ''Quantities and units'', is an
international standard
An international standard is a technical standard developed by one or more international standards organizations. International standards are available for consideration and use worldwide. The most prominent such organization is the International O ...
describing the
International System of Quantities
The International System of Quantities (ISQ) is a standard system of Quantity, quantities used in physics and in modern science in general. It includes basic quantities such as length and mass and the relationships between those quantities. This ...
(ISQ). It was developed and promulgated jointly by the
International Organization for Standardization
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries.
M ...
(ISO) and the
International Electrotechnical Commission
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC; ) is an international standards organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronics, electronic and related technologies. IEC standards cover a va ...
(IEC). It serves as a style guide for using
physical quantities
A physical quantity (or simply quantity) is a property of a material or system that can be quantified by measurement. A physical quantity can be expressed as a ''value'', which is the algebraic multiplication of a '' numerical value'' and a '' ...
and
units of measurement
A unit of measurement, or unit of measure, is a definite magnitude (mathematics), magnitude of a quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity. Any other qua ...
, formulas involving them, and their corresponding units, in scientific and educational documents for worldwide use. The ISO/IEC 80000 family of standards was completed with the publication of the first edition of Part 1 in November 2009.
Overview
By 2021, ISO/IEC 80000 comprised 13 parts, two of which (parts 6 and 13) were developed by IEC and the remaining 11 were developed by ISO, with a further three parts (15, 16 and, 17) under development. Part 14 was withdrawn.
Subject areas
By 2021 the 80000 standard had 13 published parts. A description of each part is available online, with the complete parts for sale.
Part 1: General
ISO 80000-1:2022 revised ISO 80000-1:2009, which replaced ISO 31-0:1992 and ISO 1000:1992.
This document gives general information and definitions concerning quantities, systems of quantities, units, quantity and unit symbols, and coherent unit systems, especially the International System of Quantities (ISQ).
[
The descriptive text of this part is available online.]
According to the standard, symbols for quantities are "generally single letters from the Latin or Greek alphabet" and are "written in italic (sloping) type". Examples include
* density of heat flow rate: ''q'' = ''Φ'' / ''A''
* electric current density: ''J'' = ''I'' / ''A''
* magnetic flux density: ''B'' = ''Φ'' / ''A''
Part 2: Mathematics
ISO 80000-2:2019 revised ISO 80000-2:2009,[ which superseded ISO 31-11.
It specifies mathematical symbols, explains their meanings, and gives verbal equivalents and applications. The descriptive text of this part is available online.
]
Part 3: Space and time
ISO 80000-3:2019 revised ISO 80000-3:2006,[ which supersedes ISO 31-1 and ISO 31-2.
It gives names, symbols, definitions and units for quantities of space and time. The descriptive text of this part is available online.
A definition of the ]decibel
The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a Power, root-power, and field quantities, power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whos ...
, included in the original 2006 publication, was omitted in the 2019 revision, leaving ISO/IEC 80000 without a definition of this unit; a new part of the standard, IEC 80000-15 (Logarithmic and related quantities), is under development.
Part 4: Mechanics
ISO 80000-4:2019 revised ISO 80000-4:2006,[ which superseded ISO 31-3.
It gives names, symbols, definitions and units for quantities of mechanics. The descriptive text of this part is available online.
]
Part 5: Thermodynamics
ISO 80000-5:2019 revised ISO 80000-5:2007,[ which superseded ISO 31-4. It gives names, symbols, definitions and units for quantities of ]thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, Work (thermodynamics), work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed b ...
. The descriptive text of this part is available online.
Part 6: Electromagnetism
IEC 80000-6:2022 revised IEC 80000-6:2008,[ which superseded ISO 31-5] as well as IEC 60027-1. It gives names, symbols, and definitions for quantities and units of electromagnetism
In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge via electromagnetic fields. The electromagnetic force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature. It is the dominant force in the interacti ...
. The descriptive text of this part is available online.
Part 7: Light and radiation
ISO 80000-7:2019 revised ISO 80000-7:2008,[ which superseded ISO 31-6.
It gives names, symbols, definitions and units for quantities used for ]light
Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be visual perception, perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400– ...
and optical radiation in the wavelength
In physics and mathematics, wavelength or spatial period of a wave or periodic function is the distance over which the wave's shape repeats.
In other words, it is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same ''phase (waves ...
range of approximately 1 nm to 1 mm. The descriptive text of this part is available online.
Part 8: Acoustics
ISO 80000-8:2020 revised ISO 80000-8:2007, which revised ISO 31-7:1992. It gives names, symbols, definitions, and units for quantities of acoustics
Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...
. The descriptive text of this part is available online.
It has a foreword, scope introduction, scope, normative references (of which there are none), as well as terms, and definitions. It includes definitions of sound pressure, sound power
Sound power or acoustic power is the rate at which sound energy is emitted, reflected, Acoustic transmission, transmitted or received, per unit time. It is defined as "through a surface, the product of the sound pressure, and the component of the ...
, and sound exposure, and their corresponding levels: sound pressure level, sound power level, and sound exposure level. It includes definitions of the following quantities:
* logarithmic frequency range
* static pressure
* sound pressure
* sound particle displacement
* sound particle velocity
* sound particle acceleration
* volume flow rate, volume velocity
* sound energy density
* sound energy
* sound power
Sound power or acoustic power is the rate at which sound energy is emitted, reflected, Acoustic transmission, transmitted or received, per unit time. It is defined as "through a surface, the product of the sound pressure, and the component of the ...
* sound intensity
Sound intensity, also known as acoustic intensity, is defined as the power carried by sound waves per unit area in a direction perpendicular to that area, also called the sound power density and the sound energy flux density. The SI unit of inte ...
* sound exposure
* characteristic impedance for longitudinal waves
* acoustic impedance
Acoustic impedance and specific acoustic impedance are measures of the opposition that a system presents to the acoustic flow resulting from an acoustic pressure applied to the system. The International System of Units, SI unit of acoustic impeda ...
* sound pressure level
* sound power level
* sound exposure level
* reverberation time
Part 13: Information science and technology
IEC 80000-13:2025 revised IEC 80000-13:2008, which replaced subclauses 3.8 and 3.9 of IEC 60027-2:2005 and IEC 60027-3.[ It defines quantities and units used in information science and ]information technology
Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...
, and specifies names and symbols for these quantities and units. It has a scope; normative references; names, definitions, and symbols; and prefixes for binary multiples.
Quantities defined in this standard are:
* traffic intensity 'A'' ''number of simultaneously busy resources in a particular pool of resources''
* traffic offered intensity 0">'A''0 ''traffic intensity ... of the traffic that would have been generated by the users of a pool of resources if their use had not been limited by the size of the pool''
* traffic carried intensity 'Y'' ''traffic intensity ... of the traffic served by a particular pool of resources''
* mean queue length 'L'', (''Ω'') time average of queue length
* loss probability 'B'' ''probability for losing a call attempt''
* waiting probability 'W'' ''probability for waiting for a resource''
* call intensity, calling rate 'λ'' ''number of call attempts over a specified time interval divided by the duration of this interval''
* completed call intensity 'μ'' ''call intensity ... for the call attempts that result in the transmission of an answer signal
A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology.
In ...
''
* storage capacity, storage size 'M''* equivalent binary storage capacity e">'M''e* transfer rate 'r'', (''ν'')* period of data elements 'T''* binary digit rate, bit rate b, ''r''bit (''ν''b, ''ν''bit)">'r''b, ''r''bit (''ν''b, ''ν''bit)* period of binary digits, bit period b, ''T''bit">'T''b, ''T''bit* equivalent binary digit rate, equivalent bit rate e, (''ν''e)">'r''e, (''ν''e)* modulation rate, line digit rate m, ''u''">'r''m, ''u''* quantizing distortion power Q">'T''Q* carrier power c, ''C''">'P''c, ''C''* signal energy per binary digit b, ''E''bit">'E''b, ''E''bit* error probability 'P''* Hamming distance
In information theory, the Hamming distance between two String (computer science), strings or vectors of equal length is the number of positions at which the corresponding symbols are different. In other words, it measures the minimum number ...
n">'d''n* clock frequency, clock rate cl">'f''cl* decision content a">'D''a* information content 'I''(''x'')* entropy
Entropy is a scientific concept, most commonly associated with states of disorder, randomness, or uncertainty. The term and the concept are used in diverse fields, from classical thermodynamics, where it was first recognized, to the micros ...
'H''* maximum entropy 0, (''H''max)">'H''0, (''H''max)* relative entropy r">'H''r* redundancy 'R''* relative redundancy 'r''* joint information content 'I''(''x'', ''y'')* conditional information content 'I''(''x'y'')* conditional entropy, mean conditional information content, average conditional information content 'H''(''X'Y'')* equivocation 'H''(''X'Y'')* irrelevance 'C''* transinformation content 'T''(''x'', ''y'')* mean transinformation content 'T''* character mean entropy 'H''* average information rate 'H''** character mean transinformation content 'T''* average transinformation rate 'T''** channel capacity per character; channel capacity 'C''* channel time capacity; channel capacity 'C''*
The standard also includes definitions for units relating to information technology, such as the erlang (E), bit (bit), octet (o), byte
The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable un ...
(B), baud (Bd), shannon (Sh), hartley (Hart), and the natural unit of information (nat).
Clause 4 of the standard defines standard binary prefix
A binary prefix is a unit prefix that indicates a multiple of a unit of measurement by an integer power of two. The most commonly used binary prefixes are kibi (symbol Ki, meaning ), mebi (), and gibi (). They are most often used in inform ...
es used to denote powers of 1024 as 10241 (kibi-), 10242 (mebi-), 10243 (gibi-), 10244 (tebi-), 10245 (pebi-), 10246 (exbi-), 10247 (zebi-), 10248 (yobi-), 10249 (robi-), and 102410 (quebi-).
International System of Quantities
Part 1 of ISO 80000 introduces the International System of Quantities and describes its relationship with the International System of Units
The International System of Units, internationally known by the abbreviation SI (from French ), is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. It is the only system of measurement with official s ...
(SI). Specifically, its introduction states "The system of quantities, including the relations among the quantities used as the basis of the units of the SI, is named the ''International System of Quantities'', denoted 'ISQ', in all languages." It further clarifies that "ISQ is simply a convenient notation to assign to the essentially infinite and continually evolving and expanding system of quantities and equations on which all of modern science and technology rests. ISQ is a shorthand notation for the 'system of quantities on which the SI is based'."
Units of the ISO and IEC 80000 series
The standard includes all SI units but is not limited to only SI units. Units that form part of the standard but not the SI include the units of information storage ( bit and byte
The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable un ...
), units of entropy
Entropy is a scientific concept, most commonly associated with states of disorder, randomness, or uncertainty. The term and the concept are used in diverse fields, from classical thermodynamics, where it was first recognized, to the micros ...
( shannon, natural unit of information and hartley), and the erlang (a unit of traffic intensity).
See also
* International Vocabulary of Metrology
* International System of Units
The International System of Units, internationally known by the abbreviation SI (from French ), is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. It is the only system of measurement with official s ...
* BIPM – publishes freely available information on SI units
* NIST
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical s ...
– official U.S. representative for SI; publishes freely available guide to use of SI
References
External links
BIPM SI Brochure
nbsp;– Quantities, units, symbols, conversion factors
nbsp;– The International System of Units
nbsp;– Guide for the Use of the International System of Units
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