Magnituda

Magnituda is the term used in several languages to denote magnitude, a quantitative measure of size, extent, strength, or brightness. The exact meaning depends on the field, but it generally refers to the degree of a quantity relative to a reference or to other quantities. Magnitude is often expressed on a logarithmic scale or as a norm.

In seismology, magnitude measures the energy released by an earthquake or the amplitude of seismic waves recorded on instruments. Common scales include local magnitude (ML) and moment magnitude (Mw). Magnitude scales are logarithmic; each unit change represents a substantial difference in energy, and Mw is designed to provide a consistent measure for large events.

In astronomy, magnitude describes a celestial object's brightness, with apparent magnitude as seen from Earth and absolute magnitude as intrinsic brightness at a standard distance. The scale is logarithmic and inverted: smaller numbers, including negative values, indicate brighter objects. A difference of five magnitudes corresponds to a brightness factor of 100. The Sun has an apparent magnitude of about -26.7 and an absolute magnitude of about +4.83.

In mathematics and physics, magnitude denotes length or size, such as the Euclidean norm of a vector or the modulus of a complex number. For a vector v = (x1, ..., xn), its magnitude is |v| = sqrt(x1^2 + ... + xn^2). More generally, p-norms define magnitude as (sum |xi|^p)^(1/p). The concept extends to various spaces and quantities that have a notion of size.

In everyday science and engineering, magnitude is used to compare quantities, assess scale, or express orders of magnitude, always with a specified reference and units.