[chaosmatic]

I believe the practice starts with resistors, and because of differences in use of . and , and the fact they are hard to tell apart, the units are placed in stead of the . ie 1,500 ohm -> 1k5 ohm

[Ives]

Exactly, which means 2k8 is actually 2800, and not 2008.

[raggiskula]

I look at the k as a algebric constant, i.e. SI prefix http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SI_prefix#List_of_prefixes

so 2k8 is 2000 +8,

2k1da3 would be 2013

[javert]

Knowing nothing about resistors, though, 2k8 intuitively means 2008. So I like this way of doing it.

[ZoF]

Really? Because I would prefer "2008" to "2k8"... It's literally one more character...

[javert]

For written communication, yes. For verbal communication, the 2000s can be a bit burdensome to pronounce.

[theorique]

Wouldn't that be 2.8k?

The way people seem to reckon it is 2k8 = 2 * 1000 + 8 = 2008

On the other hand, if it were 2k8h then it would be 2800 (2 kilo, 8 hecto).

[mcosta]

2k8=16000

[ksrm]

Slightly different in that case, as Ives has pointed out. For example, 4k7 = 4.7 kilohms. Extra zeros are significant, e.g. 4k700 = 4.700 kilohms.