When working with electrical cables, the markings on a cable sheath includes a set of two numbers separated by either ”-” or “/”, such as 12-2, 12/2, 14-2, 14/2, or any like combinations, the number on the left of the punctuation specifies the AWG gauge of the conductors inside the cable while the one on the right indicates how many conductors are inside the cable, but excluding the ground wire. Figures 1a, 1b, and 1c show those markings for three different types of cables.
