Metric prefix

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Metric prefixes in everyday use
Text Symbol Factor Power
exa E 1000000000000000000 1018
peta P 1000000000000000 1015
tera T 1000000000000 1012
giga G 1000000000 109
mega M 1000000 106
kilo k 1000 103
hecto h 100 102
deca da 10 101
(none) (none) 1 100
deci d 0.1 10-1
centi c 0.01 10-2
milli m 0.001 10-3
micro � 0.000001 10-6
nano n 0.000000001 10-9
pico p 0.000000000001 10-12
femto f 0.000000000000001 10-15
atto a 0.000000000000000001 10-18
v t e
A metric prefix is a unit prefix that precedes a basic unit of measure to indicate
a multiple or fraction of the unit. While all metric prefixes in common use today
are decadic, historically there have been a number of binary metric prefixes as
well.[1] Each prefix has a unique symbol that is prepended to the unit symbol. The
prefix kilo-, for example, may be added to gram to indicate multiplication by one
thousand: one kilogram is equal to one thousand grams. The prefix milli-, likewise,
may be added to metre to indicate division by one thousand; one millimetre is equal
to one thousandth of a metre.

Decimal multiplicative prefixes have been a feature of all forms of the metric
system, with six dating back to the system's introduction in the 1790s. Metric
prefixes have even been prepended to non-metric units. The SI prefixes are
standardized for use in the International System of Units (SI) by the International
Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) in resolutions dating from 1960 to 1991.[2]
Since 2009, they have formed part of the International System of Quantities.

Contents
1 List of SI prefixes
2 Application to units of measurement
2.1 Metric units
2.1.1 Mass
2.1.2 Volume
2.1.3 Length
2.1.4 Time and angles
2.1.5 Temperature
2.1.6 Energy
2.2 Non-metric units
3 Presentation
3.1 Pronunciation
3.2 Typesetting
4 Non-standard prefixes
4.1 Obsolete metric prefixes
4.2 Double prefixes
4.3 "Hella" prefix proposal
4.4 X, W and V
5 Similar symbols and abbreviations
5.1 Binary prefixes
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References
9 External links
List of SI prefixes
The BIPM specifies twenty prefixes for the International System of Units (SI).

SI prefixes v t e
Prefix Base 1000 Base 10 Decimal English word Adoption[nb 1]
Name Symbol Short scale Long scale
yotta Y 10008 1024 1000000000000000000000000 septillion quadrillion
1991
zetta Z 10007 1021 1000000000000000000000 sextillion trilliard 1991
exa E 10006 1018 1000000000000000000 quintillion trillion
1975
peta P 10005 1015 1000000000000000 quadrillion billiard 1975
tera T 10004 1012 1000000000000 trillion billion 1960
giga G 10003 109 1000000000 billion milliard 1960
mega M 10002 106 1000000 million 1873
kilo k 10001 103 1000 thousand 1795
hecto h 10002/3 102 100 hundred 1795
deca da 10001/3 101 10 ten 1795
10000 100 1 one �
deci d 1000-1/3 10-1 0.1 tenth 1795
centi c 1000-2/3 10-2 0.01 hundredth 1795
milli m 1000-1 10-3 0.001 thousandth 1795
micro � 1000-2 10-6 0.000001 millionth 1873
nano n 1000-3 10-9 0.000000001 billionth milliardth 1960
pico p 1000-4 10-12 0.000000000001 trillionth billionth 1960
femto f 1000-5 10-15 0.000000000000001 quadrillionth billiardth
1964
atto a 1000-6 10-18 0.000000000000000001 quintillionth
trillionth 1964
zepto z 1000-7 10-21 0.000000000000000000001 sextillionth
trilliardth 1991
yocto y 1000-8 10-24 0.000000000000000000000001 septillionth
quadrillionth 1991
Prefixes adopted before 1960 already existed before SI. 1873 was the introduction
of the CGS system.
Each prefix name has a symbol that is used in combination with the symbols for
units of measure. For example, the symbol for kilo- is 'k', and is used to produce
'km', 'kg', and 'kW', which are the SI symbols for kilometre, kilogram, and
kilowatt, respectively. Where Greek letters are unavailable, the symbol for micro
'�' is commonly replaced by 'u'.

Prefixes corresponding to an integer power of one thousand are generally preferred.

Hence 100 m is preferred over 1 hm (hectometre) or 10 dam (decametres). The
prefixes hecto, deca, deci, and centi are commonly used for everyday purposes, and
the centimetre (cm) is especially common. However, some modern building codes
require that the millimetre be used in preference to the centimetre, because "use
of centimetres leads to extensive usage of decimal points and confusion".[3]

Prefixes may not be used in combination. This also applies to mass, for which the
SI base unit (kilogram) already contains a prefix. For example, milligram (mg) is
used instead of microkilogram (�kg).

In the arithmetic of measurements having units, the units are treated as

multiplicative factors to values. If they have prefixes, all but one of the
prefixes must be expanded to their numeric multiplier, except when combining values
with identical units. Hence,

5 mV � 5 mA = 5�10-3 V � 5�10-3 A = 25�10-6 V�A = 25 �W

5.00 mV + 10 �V = 5.00 mV + 0.01 mV = 5.01 mV
When units occur in exponentiation, for example, in square and cubic forms, the
multiplication prefix must be considered part of the unit, and thus included in the
exponentiation.

1 km2 means one square kilometre, or the area of a square of 1000 m by 1000 m and
not 1000 square metres.
2 Mm3 means two cubic megametres, or the volume of two cubes of 1000000 m by
1000000 m by 1000000 m or 2�1018 m3, and not 2000000 cubic metres (2�106 m3).
Examples
5 cm = 5�10-2 m = 5 � 0.01 m = 0.05 m
9 km2 = 9 � (103 m)2 = 9 � (103)2 � m2 = 9�106 m2 = 9 � 1000000 m2 = 9000000 m2
3 MW = 3�106 W = 3 � 1000000 W = 3000000 W
Application to units of measurement
The use of prefixes can be traced back to the introduction of the metric system in
the 1790s, long before the 1960 introduction of the SI. The prefixes, including
those introduced after 1960, are used with any metric unit, whether officially
included in the SI or not (e.g., millidynes and milligauss). Metric prefixes may
also be used with non-metric units.

The choice of prefixes with a given unit is usually dictated by convenience of use.
Unit prefixes for amounts that are much larger or smaller than those actually
encountered are seldom used.

Metric units
Mass
In use, the kilogram, gram, milligram, microgram, and smaller are fairly common.
However, megagram (and gigagram, teragram, etc.) are rarely used; tonnes (and
kilotonnes, megatonnes, etc. � although these units generally are not used as a
measure of mass per se, but rather TNT energy equivalent of a mass) or scientific
notation are used instead. Megagram is occasionally used to disambiguate the metric
tonne from the various non-metric tons. An exception is pollution emission rates,
which are typically on the order of Tg/yr. Sometimes, only one element or compound
is denoted for an emission, such as Tg C/yr or Tg N/yr.

Alone among SI units, the base unit of mass, the kilogram, already includes a
prefix. The prefixes consequently do not indicate corresponding multipliers of the
base unit in the case of mass; for example, a megagram is 1�103 kg, whereas mega-
indicates a multiplier of 106.

Volume
The litre (equal to a cubic decimetre), millilitre (equal to a cubic centimetre),
microlitre, and smaller are common. In Europe, the centilitre is often used for
packaged products (such as wine) and the decilitre less frequently. (The latter two
items include prefixes corresponding to an exponent that is not divisible by
three.)

Larger volumes are usually denoted in kilolitres, megalitres or gigalitres, or else

in cubic metres (1 cubic metre = 1 kilolitre) or cubic kilometres (1 cubic
kilometre = 1 teralitre). For scientific purposes, the cubic metre is usually used.

Length
The kilometre, metre, centimetre, millimetre, and smaller are common. (However, the
decimetre is rarely used.) The micrometre is often referred to by the non-SI term
micron. In some fields, such as chemistry, the �ngstr�m (equal to 0.1 nm)
historically competed with the nanometre. The femtometre, used mainly in particle
physics, is sometimes called a fermi. For large scales, megametre, gigametre, and
larger are rarely used. Instead, non-metric units are used, such as astronomical
units, light years, and parsecs; the astronomical unit is mentioned in the SI
standards as an accepted non-SI unit.

Time and angles

The second, millisecond, microsecond, and shorter are common. The kilosecond and
megasecond also have some use, though for these and longer times one usually uses
either scientific notation or minutes, hours, and so on.

Official policies about the use of these prefixes vary slightly between the Bureau
International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) and the American National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST); and some of the policies of both bodies are at
variance with everyday practice. For instance, the NIST advises that "to avoid
confusion, prefix symbols (and prefixes) are not used with the time-related unit
symbols (names) min (minute), h (hour), d (day); nor with the angle-related symbols
(names) � (degree), ' (minute), and ? (second)." [4]

The BIPM�s position on the use of SI prefixes with units of time larger than the
second is the same as that of the NIST, but their position with regard to angles
differs: they state "However astronomers use milliarcsecond, which they denote mas,
and microarcsecond, �as, which they use as units for measuring very small
angles."[5] The SI unit of angle is the radian, but, as mentioned above, degrees,
minutes and seconds see some scientific use.

Temperature
Official policy also varies from common practice for the degree Celsius (�C). NIST
states:[6] "Prefix symbols may be used with the unit symbol �C and prefixes may be
used with the unit name 'degree Celsius'. For example, 12 m�C (12 millidegrees
Celsius) is acceptable." In practice, it is more common for prefixes to be used
with the kelvin when it is desirable to denote extremely large or small absolute
temperatures or temperature differences. Thus, temperatures of star interiors may
be given in units of MK (megakelvins), and molecular cooling may be described in mK
(millikelvins).

Energy
In use the joule and kilojoule are common, with larger multiples seen in limited
contexts. In addition, the kilowatt hour, a composite unit formed from the kilowatt
and hour, is often used for electrical energy; other multiples can be formed by
modifying the prefix of watt (e.g. terawatt hour).

There exist a number of definitions for the non-SI unit, the calorie. There are
gram calories and kilogram calories. One kilogram calorie, which equals one
thousand gram calories, often appears capitalized and without a prefix (i.e. 'Cal')
when referring to "dietary calories" in food.[7] It is common to apply metric
prefixes to the gram calorie, but not to the kilogram calorie: thus, 1 kcal = 1000
cal = 1 Cal.

Non-metric units
Metric prefixes are widely used outside the system of metric units. Common examples
include the megabyte and the decibel. Metric prefixes rarely appear with imperial
or US units except in some special cases (e.g., microinch, kilofoot, kilopound or
'kip'). They are also used with other specialized units used in particular fields
(e.g., megaelectronvolt, gigaparsec, millibarn). They are also occasionally used
with currency units (e.g., gigadollar), mainly by people who are familiar with the
prefixes from scientific usage. In geology and paleontology, the year, with symbol
a (from the Latin annus), is commonly used with metric prefixes: ka, Ma, and Ga.
Presentation
Pronunciation
When an SI prefix is affixed to a root word, the prefix carries the stress, while
the root drops its stress but retains a full vowel in the syllable that is stressed
when the root word stands alone.[citation needed] For example, kilobyte is /'k?l?
ba?t/, with stress on the first syllable. However, words in common use outside the
scientific community may follow idiosyncratic stress rules. In English speaking
countries, kilometre is often pronounced /k?'l?m?t?r/, with reduced vowels on both
syllables of metre.

The prefix giga is usually pronounced in English as /'g?g?/, with hard <g> as in
"get", but sometimes /'d??g?/, with soft <g> as in "gin".

Typesetting
The LaTeX typesetting system features an SIunitx package in which the units of
measurement are spelled out, for example, \SI{3}{\tera\hertz} formats as "3 THz".

Non-standard prefixes

Distance marker on the Rhine: 36 (XXXVI) myriametres from Basel. The stated
distance is 360 km; the decimal mark in Germany is a comma.
Obsolete metric prefixes
Some of the prefixes formerly used in the metric system have fallen into disuse and
were not adopted into the SI.[8][9][10] The decimal prefix myria- (sometimes also
written as myrio-) (ten thousand) as well as the binary prefixes double- and demi-,
denoting a factor of 2 and
1
/
2
(one half), respectively, were parts of the original metric system adopted by
France in 1795.[1] These were not retained when the SI prefixes were
internationally adopted by the 11th CGPM conference in 1960.

Other metric prefixes used historically include hebdo- (107) and micri- (10-14).

Double prefixes
Double prefixes have been used in the past, such as micromillimetres or
"millimicrons" (now nanometres), micromicrofarads (now picofarads), kilomegatons
(now gigatons), hectokilometres (now 100 kilometres) and the derived adjective
hectokilometric (typically used for qualifying the fuel consumption measures).[11]
These were disallowed with the introduction of the SI.

Other obsolete double prefixes included "decimilli-" (10-4), which was contracted
to "dimi-"[12] and standardized in France up to 1961.

"Hella" prefix proposal

In 2010, UC Davis student Austin Sendek started a petition to designate "hella" as
the SI prefix for one octillion (Short scale; Long scale: Quadrilliard; 1027).[13]
The petition gathered over 60,000 supporters by circulating through Facebook and
receiving a significant amount of media coverage.[14] Although the Consultative
Committee for Units considered the proposal, it was rejected.[why?] However, hella
has been adopted by certain websites, such as Google Calculator[15] and Wolfram
Alpha.[16]

X, W and V
Brian C. Lacki[17] follows Z and Y with the adopted prefixes X, W and V to mean
1027, 1030 and 1033 respectively, thus continuing the inverse alphabetical order.

Similar symbols and abbreviations

In written English, the symbol K is often used informally to indicate a multiple of
thousand in many contexts. For example, one may talk of a 40K salary (40000), or
call the Year 2000 problem the Y2K problem. In these cases, an uppercase K is often
used with an implied unit (although it could then be confused with the symbol for
the kelvin temperature unit if the context is unclear). This informal postfix is
read or spoken as "thousand" or "grand", or just "k", but never "kilo" (despite
that being the origin of the letter).

The financial and general news media mostly use m/M, b/B and t/T as abbreviations
for million, billion (109) and trillion (1012) for large quantities, typically
currency[18] and population.[19]

The medical and automotive fields in the United States use the abbreviations "cc"
or "ccm" for cubic centimetres. 1 cubic centimetre is equivalent to 1 millilitre.

For nearly a century, the electrical construction industry used the abbreviation
"MCM" to designate a "thousand circular mils" in specifying thicknesses of large
electrical cables. Since the mid-1990s, "kcmil" has been adopted as the "official"
designation of a thousand circular mils, but the designation "MCM" still remains in
wide use. A similar system is used in natural gas sales in the United States: m (or
M) for thousands and mm (or MM) for millions of British thermal units or therms,
and in the oil industry,[20] where 'MMbbl' is the symbol for 'millions of barrels'.
This usage of the capital letter M for 'thousand' is from Roman numerals, in which
M means 1,000.[21]

Binary prefixes
In some fields of information technology, it has been common to designate non-
decimal multiples based on powers of 1024, rather than 1000, for some SI prefixes
(kilo, mega, giga), contrary to the definitions in the International System of
Units (SI). This practice was once sanctioned by some industry associations,
including JEDEC. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standardized
the system of binary prefixes (kibi, mebi, gibi, etc.) for this purpose.[22][Note
1]

See also
Engineering notation
Indian Numbering System
International vocabulary of metrology
ISO/IEC 80000
List of numbers in various languages (for comparison/etymology)
Names of large numbers
Names of small numbers
Number names
Numeral prefix
Order of magnitude
Letter and digit code
SI base unit
Notes
The names and symbols of the binary prefixes proposed by the IEC include
kibi (Ki) = 210 = 1024
mebi (Mi) = 220 = 10242 = 1048576
gibi (Gi) = 230 = 10243 = 1073741824
etc.
References
This article is based on material taken from the Free On-line Dictionary of
Computing prior to 1 November 2008 and incorporated under the "relicensing" terms
of the GFDL, version 1.3 or later.

"La Loi Du 18 Germinal An 3 - D�cision de tracer le m�tre, unit� fondamentale, sur

une r�gle de platine. Nomenclature des "mesures r�publicaines". Reprise de la
triangulation" (in French). histoire.du.metre.free.fr. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
"Four Resolutions". Bipm.org. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
"Wayback Machine" (PDF). archive.org. 15 December 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
Suplee, Curt (2009-07-02). "Special Publication 811". NIST. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
"SI Brochure: The International System of Units (SI)". International Bureau of
Weights and Measures. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
Suplee, Curt (2 July 2009). "Special Publication 811". nist.gov. Retrieved 21
April 2018.
Conn, Carole; Len Kravitz. "Remarkable Calorie". University of New Mexico.
Retrieved 22 May 2017.
29th Congress of the United States, Session 1 (13 May 1866). "H.R. 596, An Act to
authorize the use of the metric system of weights and measures". Archived from the
original on 5 July 2015.
Brewster, David (1830). The Edinburgh Encyclop�dia. 12. Edinburgh, UK: William
Blackwood, John Waugh, John Murray, Baldwin & Cradock, J. M. Richardson. p. 494.
Retrieved 9 October 2015.
Brewster, David (1832). The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia. 12 (1st American ed.). Joseph
and Edward Parker. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
Rowlett, Russ (2008) [2000]. "millimicro-". How Many? A Dictionary of Units of
Measurement. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Archived from the
original on 29 August 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
Danloux-Dumesnils, Maurice (1969). The metric system: a critical study of its
principles and practice. The Athlone Press. p. 34. Retrieved 9 October 2015. (a
translation of the French original Esprit et bon usage du systeme metrique, 1965)
Chawkins, Steve (6 July 2010). "Physics major has a name for a really big number".
Los Angeles Times.
"The Official Petition to Establish "Hella" as the SI Prefix for 10^27".
Kim, Ryan. "Google gets behind "hella" campaign". SFGate.
Sendek, Austin. "First goes Google, now goes Wolfram Alpha".
Lacki, B. C. (2015). SETI at Planck Energy: When Particle Physicists Become Cosmic
Engineers. arXiv preprint arXiv:1503.01509 [1].
The Associated Press (13 February 2012). "Obama unveils $3.8T budget proposal".
Cbc.ca. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
"More than 65M Flock to Discovery's Planet Earth". Multichannel.com. Retrieved 1
March 2012.
"Purcell, P (2007). Disambiguating M. PESA News 88". Pesa.com.au. Retrieved 1
March 2012.
"What is the difference between MCM and kcmil?". Reference.com. Retrieved 5
September 2016.
International Electrotechnical Commission (January 2010). "IEC 60050 -
International Electrotechnical Vocabulary - Details for IEV number 112-01-27".
Retrieved 19 June 2011.
External links
Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM)
SI prefixes at BIPM
US NIST Definitions of the SI units: The twenty SI prefixes
US NIST Definitions of the SI units: The binary prefixes
v t e
SI units
Authority: International System of Units (BIPM)
Base units
ampere candela kelvin kilogram metre mole second
SI base unit
Derived units
with special names
becquerel coulomb degree Celsius farad gray henry hertz joule katal lumen lux
newton ohm pascal radian siemens sievert steradian tesla volt watt weber
Other accepted units
astronomical unit bar dalton day decibel degree of arc electronvolt hectare hour
litre minute minute of arc neper second of arc tonne atomic units natural units
See also
Conversion of units Metric prefixes Proposed redefinitions Systems of measurement
Wikipedia book Book Category Category
v t e
Orders of magnitude
Quantity
Acceleration Angular velocity Area Bit rate Capacitance Charge Computing Currency
Current Data Density Energy / Energy density / Energy flow density Entropy Force
Frequency Inductance Illuminance Length Luminance / Luminous flux Magnetic field
Mass Molarity Momentum Numbers Power Pressure Probability Radiation Resistance
Sound pressure Specific energy Specific heat capacity Speed Temperature Time
Viscosity Voltage Volume
See also
Back-of-the-envelope calculation Fermi problem Powers of 10 Metric (SI) prefix
Macroscopic scale Microscopic scale Quantum realm
Related
Earth's location in the Universe "Cosmic View" (1957 essay) To the Moon and Beyond
(1964 film) Cosmic Zoom (1968 film) Powers of Ten (1968 and 1977 films) Cosmic
Voyage (1996 documentary) Cosmic Eye (2012)