American wire gauge (AWG), also known as the Brown & Sharpe wire gauge, is a stanardized wire gauge system used since 1857 in the United States and other countries for the diameters of round, solid, nonferrous, electrically conducting wire. The steel industry uses a different numbering system for their wire thickness gauges (for example, W&M Wire Gauge or US Steel Wire Gauge or the different Music Wire Gauge) so data below does not apply to steel wire. Since AWG is specifically for electrical conductors, the cross-sectional area of each gauge is an important factor for determining its current-carrying capacity.