November 2012

Axis Labels and Scales on Graphs

Preferred style for quantities with units:

For dimensionless quantities:

For text labels that represent dimensionless quantities:

Style for logarithmic scales:

Additional instructions:

• Use standard abbreviations for the units.
• Add units of before nonstandard units for clarity: e.g., (a) $\longrightarrow$ (units of a).
• Use small spaces, not hyphens, dots, or other symbols, between the parts of compound units.
• Use multiplication signs and powers of 10 with superscripts for numbers on figure axes.
  Do not use computer (E) notation.
• Use decimal points (not commas) in numbers.
• Avoid the ambiguity of using more than one solidus. Do not use a/b/c.
• Add bracketing as needed to group fractions; e.g., instead of counts/sr/s, use counts/(sr s).

Not acceptable:

Do not use multiplication signs with units. Do not use an isolated power of ten as a unit. The following styles are ambiguous and are NOT ACCEPTABLE: