What is the difference between macro and micro

Macro vs. Micro – What’s the Difference?

English words can be modified through many different methods. One of these methods is through prefixing. English has many prefixes, some of which refer to units of relative size. These prefixes can often be so similar that they refer to different degrees of the same measurement.

Macro and micro refer to measurements of size but in different directions. One refers to large measurements, and one refers to small measurements.

Continue reading to find out which is which. Macro or micro?

What is the Difference Between Macro and Micro?

In this post, I will compare macro vs. micro. I will use each of these words in at least one example sentence, so you can see it in its proper context.

Plus, I will give you a memory tool that will help you choose either micro or macro for your own writing.

When to Use Macro

What does macro mean? Macro is a common English prefix. It one describes something that is larger relative to its unmodified noun.

A macro can also refer to a type of digital image, a set of computer instructions, or a very close-up photograph.

Here are some examples,

Macroeconomics deals with large-scale economic activity.
Most Internet memes are simply macro images with ironic or clever commentary.
You can use macroinstructions to automate complex or time-consuming programming segments.
On the macro level, you can see the grand silhouettes of distant old trees, especially when their tracery is revealed before the season’s pale yellow skies. –The Washington Post

Unlike micro-, macro- is not a unit of division in the metric system.

When to Use Micro

What does micro mean? Micro is a prefix that describes something which is smaller relative to the unmodified noun. In the metric system, micro- denotes one millionth of the original term.

Here are some examples,

I need to buy a new micro USB cord for my phone, since I left my old one at a bus stop.
On a micro scale, opportunity costs can be very significant.
A depth micrometer measures tiny differences that can be indiscernible to the human eye.
Lacking economies of scale, the micro-territories have survived by exploiting their one truly worthwhile asset: their sovereignty, the right to do as they please. –The Economist

Should Macro and Micro be Hyphenated?

On the whole, these two prefixes are hyphenated less frequently than other prefixes, but just to be sure, see our post on prefixes and hyphenation.

Trick to Remember the Difference

Here is a helpful trick to remember micro vs. macro.

Simply put, micro refers to small things and macro refers to big things.

Each of these terms appears in a wide variety of contexts and refers to a vast number of concepts, but if you remember this simple rule, you will generally be able to remember which is which.

As an even simpler memory trick, you can use the shared I between micro and tiny to help you remember that micro refers to tiny things.

Summary

Is it macro or micro? Macro and micro are terms of measurement that often appear as prefixes to other words.

Macro refers to large things.
Micro refers to small things.

They each have a wide variety of uses, but this simple rule holds true for all cases.

Remember, micro and tiny are both spelled with the letter I, so identifying the meaning of this word should be easy.

Small differences in spelling can lead to large differences in meaning—even though micro and macro are only different by one letter, they mean opposite things. Don’t forget to check this site any time you have questions about spelling differences or other writing topics.

If you ever find yourself unable to choose micro or macro, you can always use this article as a refresher.

Contents

1 What is the Difference Between Macro and Micro?
2 When to Use Macro
3 When to Use Micro
4 Should Macro and Micro be Hyphenated?
5 Trick to Remember the Difference
6 Summary

Microeconomics vs. Macroeconomics: A Simple Guide

Microeconomics vs. Macroeconomics: An Overview

Economics is divided into two categories: microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics is the study of individuals and business decisions, while macroeconomics looks at the decisions of countries and governments.

Though these two branches of economics appear different, they are actually interdependent and complement one another. Many overlapping issues exist between the two fields.

Key Takeaways

Microeconomics studies individuals and business decisions, while macroeconomics analyzes the decisions made by countries and governments.
Microeconomics focuses on supply and demand, and other forces that determine price levels, making it a bottom-up approach.
Macroeconomics takes a top-down approach and looks at the economy as a whole, trying to determine its course and nature.
Investors can use microeconomics in their investment decisions, while macroeconomics is an analytical tool mainly used to craft economic and fiscal policy.

Microeconomics Vs. Macroeconomics

Microeconomics

Microeconomics is the study of decisions made by people and businesses regarding the allocation of resources, and prices at which they trade goods and services. It considers taxes, regulations, and government legislation.

Microeconomics focuses on supply and demand and other forces that determine price levels in the economy. It takes a bottom-up approach to analyzing the economy. In other words, microeconomics tries to understand human choices, decisions, and the allocation of resources.

Having said that, microeconomics does not try to answer or explain what forces should take place in a market. Rather, it tries to explain what happens when there are changes in certain conditions.

For example, microeconomics examines how a company could maximize its production and capacity so that it could lower prices and better compete. A lot of microeconomic information can be gleaned from company financial statements.

Microeconomics involves several key principles, including (but not limited to):

Demand, Supply and Equilibrium: Prices are determined by the law of supply and demand. In a perfectly competitive market, suppliers offer the same price demanded by consumers. This creates economic equilibrium.
Production Theory: This principle is the study of how goods and services are created or manufactured.
Costs of Production: According to this theory, the price of goods or services is determined by the cost of the resources used during production.
Labor Economics: This principle looks at workers and employers, and tries to understand patterns of wages, employment, and income.

The rules in microeconomics flow from a set of compatible laws and theorems, rather than beginning with empirical study.

Macroeconomics

Macroeconomics, on the other hand, studies the behavior of a country and how its policies impact the economy as a whole. It analyzes entire industries and economies, rather than individuals or specific companies, which is why it’s a top-down approach. It tries to answer questions such as “What should the rate of inflation be?” or “What stimulates economic growth?”

Macroeconomics examines economy-wide phenomena such as gross domestic product (GDP) and how it is affected by changes in unemployment, national income, rates of growth, and price levels.

Macroeconomics analyzes how an increase or decrease in net exports impacts a nation’s capital account, or how gross domestic product (GDP) is impacted by the unemployment rate.

Macroeconomics focuses on aggregates and econometric correlations, which is why governments and their agencies rely on macroeconomics to formulate economic and fiscal policy. Investors who buy interest-rate-sensitive securities should keep a close eye on monetary and fiscal policy.

John Maynard Keynes is often credited as the founder of macroeconomics, as he initiated the use of monetary aggregates to study broad phenomena. Some economists dispute his theories, while many Keynesians disagree on how to interpret his work.

Investors and Microeconomics vs. Macroeconomics

Individual investors may be better off focusing on microeconomics, but macroeconomics cannot be ignored altogether. Fundamental and value investors may disagree with technical investors about the proper role of economic analysis. While it is more likely that microeconomics will impact individual investments, macroeconomic factors can affect entire portfolios.

Warren Buffett famously stated that macroeconomic forecasts didn’t influence his investing decisions. When asked how he and partner Charlie Munger choose investments, Buffett said, “Charlie and I don’t pay attention to macro forecasts. We have worked together now for 54 years, and I can’t think of a time we made a decision on a stock, or on a company ... where we’ve talked about macro.” Buffett also has referred to macroeconomic literature as “the funny papers.”

John Templeton, another famously successful value investor, shared a similar sentiment. “I never ask if the market is going to go up or down because I don’t know, and besides, it doesn’t matter,” Templeton told Forbes in 1978. “I search nation after nation for stocks, asking: ‘Where is the one that is lowest priced in relation to what I believe it’s worth?’”

Can Macroeconomic Factors Affect My Investment Portfolio?

Yes, macroeconomic factors can have a significant influence on your investment portfolio. For example, the Great Recession of 2008–09 and accompanying market crash were caused by the bursting of the U. S. housing bubble and subsequent near-collapse of financial institutions that were heavily invested in U.S. subprime mortgages.

For another example of the effect of macro factors on investment portfolios, consider the response of central banks and governments to the pandemic-induced crash of spring 2020. Governments and central banks unleashed torrents of liquidity through fiscal and monetary stimulus to prop up their economies and stave off recession, which had the effect of pushing most major equity markets to record highs in the second half of 2020 and throughout much of 2021.

What Is a Global Macro Strategy?

A global macro strategy is an investment and trading strategy that centers around large macroeconomic events at a national or global level. “Global Macro” involves research and analysis of numerous macroeconomic factors, including interest rates, currency levels, political developments, and country relations.

What Is the Basic Difference Between Microeconomics and Macroeconomics?

Microeconomics is the study of how individuals and companies make decisions to allocate scarce resources. Macroeconomics is the study of an economy as a whole.

How Do Core Concepts of Microeconomics Such as Supply and Demand Affect Stock Prices?

Microeconomic concepts such as supply and demand affect stocks prices in two ways: directly and indirectly.

The direct effect can be gauged by the impact of demand and supply disequilibrium on stock prices. When demand for a stock exceeds supply at a given point in time because there are more buyers than sellers, the stock will rise; conversely, when supply exceeds demand because there are more sellers than buyers, the stock will fall.
The indirect effect is based on supply and demand for the underlying company’s products and services. If the company’s products are flying off the shelves because of robust demand, it may be on a probable strong earnings trajectory that would likely translate into a higher price for its stock. But if demand is sluggish and there is excess inventory (or supply) of its products, the company’s earnings may disappoint and the stock may slump.

Does My Portfolio Performance Hinge on Both Microeconomic and Macroeconomic Factors?

Yes, the performance of your portfolio hinges on both microeconomic and macroeconomic factors. Microeconomic factors such as supply and demand, taxes and regulations, and macroeconomic factors such as gross domestic product (GDP) growth, inflation, and interest rates, have a significant influence on different sectors of the economy and hence on your investment portfolio.

Micro, macro, close-up - what's the difference?

In our article, you will learn about the differences between these three types of photography. And we will also tell you what equipment is needed to get the desired result.

Close-up photography has no scientific definition. This usually means any photograph that shows an object closer and in more detail than the human eye is accustomed to.

So why is close-up interesting? You can use it to crop the image so that only the head, the stamen of a flower, or one moon remains in the entire image. It's not so much the proximity of the object, but the field of view. nine0003

So what lens do you need for close-ups? Any lens can take regular close-ups. All you have to do is either zoom in or zoom in. For example, you can zoom in to get a close-up of the moon. Or just shoot from a short distance when shooting small subjects. But most lenses eventually reach their minimum focus distance. This means that your subject will be blurry if you get too close. nine0003

Close-up vs. macro

In general photography, the size of the image formed on the sensor is much smaller than the subject itself. For example, an image of a 10 meter tree may produce an image that is only 1 cm high on the sensor. This ratio is 1:1000. As you get closer to smaller objects, the size of the image on the sensor gets much closer to the actual size of the object.

Eventually, we can get close enough and still keep the subject in focus. Thus, it is possible to create an image of the same size as the object itself. At this point, the ratio will be 1:1. You can call it life size zoom or just X1 zoom. This is the point at which the transition from normal close-up images to true macro occurs. nine0003

In photography, macro photography is used in situations where the size of the image is equal to or larger than the size of the subject. But it's not uncommon to see a lens labeled "Macro" which is just a close-up setting.

For a lens to be a true macro lens, it must produce an image that is at least as large as the size of the subject. This often has a ratio of ten to one (X10 or 10:1). This is the maximum magnification you can get without using a microscope. nine0003

Now let's look at the several options available to achieve a macro in the range X1 to X10.

What equipment do you need for macro photography?

The most budget friendly option for macro photographers is to use a simple adapter ring. It mounts on the front of the lens so it can be mounted backwards on a digital camera.

The disadvantage is that you lose automatic lens control. It is no longer electrically connected to the camera as the lens is upside down. The aperture will be wide open as soon as you remove the lens from the camera body. On some lenses, you can lock the desired aperture. Press the depth-of-field preview button while detaching the lens. nine0003

This violates auto metering, so you need to put the camera in full manual mode, adjust the shutter speed and ISO to get the desired sharpness and brightness of the image.

With the reversing ring you can use the crop sensor on a full frame camera. This allows you to achieve X4 magnification for close-ups.

But what if the photographer prefers the lens to be properly attached to the camera? You can use macro lens filters on your standard lens thread. As a rule, they come in different magnifications (diopters). nine0003

When you need to get a little closer to your subject, simply screw the +1 diopter macro lens onto a standard camera lens. If that's not enough, change it to a higher magnification or combine filters. Screw-in lenses for macro photography will allow you to get a real macro range, but with degraded optical quality.

Extension rings

What happens if you get closer than the minimum focusing distance to the subject? Light rays will try to focus behind the sensor. Consequently, your image will look blurry. The use of extension rings moves the camera lenses further away from the sensor. In other words, the focal plane lies on the sensor again to get a sharp image. nine0003

Larger image taken with extension rings is not as bright. This may be equivalent to two or more stops down at a higher magnification. And since they don't have optics, there's no quality loss.

You can fold the extension rings to achieve a closer focus distance. As a rule, they will only lead you to the true macro range.

But what if you want to do macro photography without problems using attachments? Then, of course, you need to think about buying a macro lens. nine0003

A dedicated macro lens allows you to focus close enough to get a 1:1 image size without any additional attachments. This type of lens can also focus to infinity, so you can use it as a standard prime lens.

The image below was shot handheld in natural light using a 60mm macro lens and then cropped to 3404x2269 pixels.

If you need higher magnifications for macro photography, you can combine macro lenses with attachments. Canon makes an unusual macro lens that can zoom from 1:1 to 5:1. The MPE-65mm f/2.8 macro lens does not have a focus ring, only a zoom setting.

To focus, you must either move the subject or the camera. This is why it can be difficult to do it accurately at high magnification. A sturdy tripod or studio stand is essential for focusing. nine0003

Macro, micro and macro lenses

Micro vs. Macro

Microphotography applies to magnifications that are higher than you can get with macro equipment. There is no "micro lens" that can be attached to a camera. To achieve a magnification much higher than X5, you need a microscope. This will allow you to achieve magnification from X7 to X100 and more, depending on the optics.

You can buy a microscope for less than a macro lens. Perhaps the most versatile for photography is the inspection microscope. This type has a ring light to illuminate the subject from above. nine0003

Some now have a built-in USB camera, but their resolution is much lower than even the most budget camera. Look for a tool with a C-mount port. So you can use the camera with the appropriate adapter.

Cytoacid crystals in polarized light

Conclusion

Remember that macro photography is a general term for general close-up, macro photography, and micro photography. Close-up means that you are simply shooting at a short distance from the subject. You can use almost any lens for close-ups. nine0003

Macro means you are taking super close-ups of objects at a 1:1 scale. This means that the size of the image on your sensor is equal to the size of the subject you are photographing in real life.

Micro means magnification at the microscopic level. In other words, we are talking about objects that you cannot see with the naked eye.

All you need to remember is the points above to avoid confusion. It's not too difficult, right?

Difference between micro and macro

Micro vs. Macro

The main difference between "micro" and "macro" is that the macro is on a large scale and cannot be observed, while the micro is on a very small scale and can be observed or to identify.

There are many macro and micro systems that have their own definitions, explanations and differences. For example, the differences between micro and macroeconomics, the differences between micro and macro lenses, the differences between macro and micro evolution, the differences between micro and macro analysis, and the differences between micro and macro influences, microclimates and macroclimates. The list could go on, but all of these fields or areas share some common features regarding "micro" and "macro". nine0003

We will try to distinguish between "micro" and "macro" using different examples from different fields.

Economy

In the economy, the entire region was divided into two parts; macro and microeconomics. "Micro" deals with a particular industry or a particular sector, the relationship of firms and households in the market, while "macro" deals with the economy, which is related to the nation as a whole on a large scale, like the gross output of a year. Microeconomics is called price theory as it mainly focuses on the prices of goods and services whereas macroeconomics focuses on the economy of a country. This includes gross productivity, unemployment rate, inflation, etc.

Evolution

Macro- and microevolution are studied separately. Microevolution is considered evolution within a species and its gene pool. It is believed that it is contained in a small part of nature, that is, in the gene pool of a certain species, and variations occur within a small part. For example, in one litter of a dog, puppies of different shades are born. The black and white dog has black and white puppies. Some are dominated by white and less black. Or the same parents who have one child with brown hair, black eyes, and the other with black hair, brown eyes. nine0003

However, macroevolution is something huge, like the evolution of life from water, the evolution of birds from dinosaurs, or the evolution of feathers. Another example is the evolution of the horse (Equidae) from dog-like creatures. These creatures were herbivores, and once their habitat turned into grassy pastures, they needed to graze faster and cover more territory faster. Thus, the legs lengthened and the toes shrunk. These changes were abrupt and unnoticed by anyone. Similarly, there are many systems of which we can give examples, but the main difference is the difference in their proportions.