ISO/IEC 80000,Quantities and units, is aninternational standard describing theInternational System of Quantities (ISQ). It was developed and promulgated jointly by theInternational Organization for Standardization (ISO) and theInternational Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). It serves as a style guide for usingphysical quantities andunits of measurement, 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.[1][2]
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 Part 14 was withdrawn.
| Part | Year | Name | Replaces | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 80000-1[3] | 2022 | General | ISO 31-0,IEC 60027-1, andIEC 60027-3 | published |
| ISO 80000-2[4] | 2019 | Mathematics | ISO 31-11 andIEC 60027-1 | published |
| ISO 80000-3[5] | 2019 | Space andtime | ISO 31-1 andISO 31-2 | published |
| ISO 80000-4[6] | 2019 | Mechanics | ISO 31-3 | published |
| ISO 80000-5[7] | 2019 | Thermodynamics | ISO 31-4 | published |
| IEC 80000-6[8] | 2022 | Electromagnetism | ISO 31-5 | published |
| ISO 80000-7[9] | 2019 | Light andradiation | ISO 31-6 | published |
| ISO 80000-8[10] | 2020 | Acoustics | ISO 31-7 | published |
| ISO 80000-9[11] | 2019 | Physical chemistry andmolecular physics | ISO 31-8 | published |
| ISO 80000-10[12] | 2019 | Atomic andnuclear physics | ISO 31-9 andISO 31-10 | published |
| ISO 80000-11[13] | 2019 | Characteristic numbers | ISO 31-12 | published |
| ISO 80000-12[14] | 2019 | Condensed matter physics | ISO 31-13 | published |
| IEC 80000-13[15] | 2025 | Information science andtechnology | subclauses 3.8 and 3.9 ofIEC 60027-2:2005 | published |
| IEC 80000-14[16] | 2008 | Telebiometrics related to human physiology | IEC 60027-7 | withdrawn |
| IEC 80000-15[17] | Logarithmic and related quantities | under development | ||
| IEC 80000-16[18] | Printing and writing rules | under development | ||
| IEC 80000-17[19] | Time dependency | under development |
By 2021 the 80000 standard had 13 published parts. A description of each part is available online, with the complete parts for sale.[20][21]
ISO 80000-1:2022 revised ISO 80000-1:2009, which replaced ISO 31-0:1992 and ISO 1000:1992.[22]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).[3]The descriptive text of this part is available online.[23][24]
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
ISO 80000-2:2019 revised ISO 80000-2:2009,[4] which supersededISO 31-11.[25]It specifies mathematical symbols, explains their meanings, and gives verbal equivalents and applications. The descriptive text of this part is available online.[26]
ISO 80000-3:2019 revised ISO 80000-3:2006,[5] which supersedesISO 31-1 andISO 31-2.[27]It gives names, symbols, definitions and units for quantities of space and time. The descriptive text of this part is available online.[28]
A definition of thedecibel, 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.
ISO 80000-4:2019 revised ISO 80000-4:2006,[6] which supersededISO 31-3.[29]It gives names, symbols, definitions and units for quantities of mechanics. The descriptive text of this part is available online.[30]
ISO 80000-5:2019 revised ISO 80000-5:2007,[7] which supersededISO 31-4.[31] It gives names, symbols, definitions and units for quantities ofthermodynamics. The descriptive text of this part is available online.[32]
IEC 80000-6:2022 revised IEC 80000-6:2008,[8] which supersededISO 31-5[33] as well as IEC 60027-1. It gives names, symbols, and definitions for quantities and units ofelectromagnetism. The descriptive text of this part is available online.[34]
ISO 80000-7:2019 revised ISO 80000-7:2008,[9] which supersededISO 31-6.[35]It gives names, symbols, definitions and units for quantities used forlight andoptical radiation in thewavelength range of approximately 1 nm to 1 mm. The descriptive text of this part is available online.[36]
ISO 80000-8:2020 revised ISO 80000-8:2007,[37] which revised ISO 31-7:1992.[38] It gives names, symbols, definitions, and units for quantities ofacoustics. The descriptive text of this part is available online.[39]
It has a foreword, scope introduction, scope, normative references (of which there are none), as well as terms, and definitions. It includes definitions ofsound pressure,sound power, andsound exposure, and their correspondinglevels:sound pressure level,sound power level, andsound exposure level. It includes definitions of the following quantities:
IEC 80000-13:2025 revised IEC 80000-13:2008, which replaced subclauses 3.8 and 3.9 of IEC 60027-2:2005 andIEC 60027-3.[15] It defines quantities and units used ininformation science andinformation technology, and specifies names and symbols for these quantities and units. It has a scope; normative references; names, definitions, and symbols; and prefixes forbinary multiples.
Quantities defined in this standard are:
The standard also includes definitions for units relating to information technology, such as theerlang (E),bit (bit),octet (o),byte (B),baud (Bd),shannon (Sh),hartley (Hart), and thenatural unit of information (nat).
Clause 4 of the standard defines standardbinary prefixes 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-).
Part 1 of ISO 80000 introduces the International System of Quantities and describes its relationship with theInternational System of Units (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 theInternational 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'."
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 andbyte), units ofentropy (shannon,natural unit of information andhartley), and theerlang (a unit of traffic intensity).