# power button symbol... ??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 30, 2001, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-button-symbol/90451 "2001-10-30T03:34:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MagicalSilverKey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@MagicalSilverKey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicalSilverKey)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2001, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-button-symbol/90451/1 "2001-10-30T03:34:22Z")
I am curious about the “power button symbol” that is on most contemporary electronics. You know, it looks very similar to a capital letter G rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise. When did this “symbol” first appear on a product? What was the first item it was on? Who originated it? Where did it come from? How did it become universal to indicate “power?” ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2001, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-button-symbol/90451/2 "2001-10-30T03:40:58Z")
I assume that it is supposed to represent a one superimposed on a zero, the two logical states for a power switch (my power switch just shows a one and a zero.) I’d blame a 1960s IBM for this one, it sounds like them… ---
**Author:** ![NutWrench](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nutwrench/32/20193_2.png) [@NutWrench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutWrench)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2001, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-button-symbol/90451/3 "2001-10-30T04:40:11Z")
Using universal symbols to represent the functions on electronic devices is also a good way for a manufacturer to save money. Why stamp “brightness”,“contrast” and “power” on your monitor in 10 different languages when you can use symbols instead? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-button-symbol/90451/4 "2001-10-31T09:26:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MagicalSilverKey \* > \*\*I am curious about the “power button symbol” that is on most contemporary electronics. You know, it looks very similar to a capital letter G rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise. > > When did this “symbol” first appear on a product? > What was the first item it was on? > Who originated it? > Where did it come from? > How did it become universal to indicate “power?” \*\* Very interesting questions. I can only answer the last one though. It does **not** indicate power. It is an international symbol for **standby**. The standard symbol for ON/OFF is a vertical line fully inside a circle. Like most modern machinery your PC does NOT switch off completely when you push that button, it merely goes to a low-power mode, switching of the entire computer part, but still running the power-supply (and most likelly any APM-compatible PCI devices that use D3-mode). (here are some images: [http://eetd.lbl.gov/Controls/overview/isyourpcasleep4.html](http://eetd.lbl.gov/Controls/overview/isyourpcasleep4.html) ) That said, the questions still remain: Who standardised it? (My guess is IEC) When? Why? How? ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-button-symbol/90451/5 "2001-10-31T10:15:02Z")
It looks like my first hunch was correct. It is indeed [IEC](http://www.iec.ch) that defines the standard. The standby symbol is defined in the IEC 60417-1 (which replaces IEC 60417, which was originally named IEC 417, which was based on IEC 416). Still no clue about the early history of the symbol, or the earliest implementations. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-button-symbol/90451/6 "2001-10-31T14:32:06Z")
I always thought it was a symbol indicatinga circuit (the circle) and an interruption (the line), but what do I know? Oh, and I have a Dell here at work, and it has a little Mazda-looking symbol for “reset” (y’know, a circle, with a quarer arc from the upper left to the center, and another quater arc from that point to the upper right). Anyone else have these? Is it “standard”? ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-button-symbol/90451/7 "2001-10-31T15:26:33Z")
I’ve found a good resource, but unfortunately the search engine is broken. It also only covers ver 2.0 of IEC 417, and not the latest revisions: [http://w3.hike.te.chiba-u.ac.jp/iec417/ver2.0/html/index.html](http://w3.hike.te.chiba-u.ac.jp/iec417/ver2.0/html/index.html) [Here](http://w3.hike.te.chiba-u.ac.jp/iec417/html/doc/5009.html) is the symbol (I think) we’re talking about. > [@](#): > > **No. 417-IEC-5009** > **Title:** Stand-by > > **Application:** On any kind of equipment. To identify the switch or switch position by means of which part of the equipment is switched on in order to bring it into the stand-by condition. **caveman** , I finally found the symbol you mean. (At least I hope it’s [this one](http://w3.hike.te.chiba-u.ac.jp/iec417/html/doc/5111.html)). > [@](#): > > **No. 417-IEC-5111** > \*\*Title:\*\*Pause ; interruption > \*\*Application:\*\*On any kind of equipment. To identify the button by means of which the run (e.g. of a tape) is interrupted by means of a break mechanism and mechanical disconnection from the driving mechanism which continues to run. Two notes on this symbol: Odd of Mazda to have chosen the internationally acknowledged symbol for **pause**. (I would have chosen **play** , or **fast-forward**!) Since when does it mean **reset**? By only knowing the formal definition I would have expected some kind of pause mode when pressing it. (It’s true that I haven’t read the latest revision of the standard though. Maybe it’s been redefined) ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-button-symbol/90451/8 "2001-10-31T15:46:23Z")
NEC PC Ok, I got a crescent moon for “sleep”…that’s nice. I got the G-rotated 90 degrees-counterclockwise thingy…ok. And I have a circle with a inner Z rotated about 45 degress counterclockwise to indicate power is on (not in standby I guess) And for my hard drive I have a cylinder shaped thingy. Someone what to explain that to me??? ---
**Author:** ![MagicalSilverKey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@MagicalSilverKey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicalSilverKey)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-button-symbol/90451/9 "2001-10-31T18:57:06Z")
Thanks for the info, folks. I have a feeling there is much more yet to be revealed on this matter. Let’s see what pops up. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-button-symbol/90451/10 "2001-10-31T21:31:56Z")
> [@](#): > > And I have a circle with a inner Z rotated about 45 degress counterclockwise to indicate power is on (not in standby I guess) I think that’s supposed to be a lightning bolt, not a Z. ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-button-symbol/90451/11 "2001-10-31T21:37:54Z")
> [@](#): > > And for my hard drive I have a cylinder shaped thingy. Someone what to explain that to me??? Old mainframe removable hard disk packs looked like cylinders. There are several platters spaced along a spindle. The protective cover is a cylinder with a handle on top (kinda like a cake cover) that locks onto the base of the platter/spindle assembly. If you take apart the hard drive inside your PC (not recommended) you’ll see that the spindle/platter configuration is still there. A side note - a cylinder is also a unit of disk storage. A disk platter is made up of concentric tracks. A coaxial set of tracks is known as a cylinder. The actual number of bytes on a track or cylinder varies according to the make of the device. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-button-symbol/90451/12 "2001-10-31T22:03:31Z")
And the old flowcharting symbol (for those of us old-timers who learned flowcharting) for a disk file was a cylinder. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-button-symbol/90451/13 "2001-10-31T22:15:15Z")
Put me in the 0 and 1 camp. The 0 represents a closed circut, and therefor ‘OFF’, the 1 is an open circut and symbolizes ‘ON’. Maybe some of you are too young to remember those IBM Selectric typewriters, but they had a toggle switch for power. 0 marked the off position and 1 marked the on position. ---
**Author:** ![Gaspode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gaspode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaspode)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2001, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-button-symbol/90451/14 "2001-11-01T04:26:30Z")
All the heavy machinery and staitonary engine type equipment I’ve seen manufactured in the last ten years have the standard good old fashioned switches. One way is on, the other off. The on position is always marked with a vertical line, the off with a O. Rather obviously binary for current flows, current doesn’t flow. It seems logical the standby symbol for switches that aren’t at separte positions for these functions is a combination of the two (ie a line inside a circle) while standby is just a variation on this, with the line not quite fully enclosed. That’s my WAG for the origin of the symbol. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2001, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-button-symbol/90451/15 "2001-11-01T14:14:50Z")
I was really routing for these symbols to make absolutely no sense. Damn you all.