Note:- Metric prefixes act as a multiplier to the base unit that follows. See below for the values of the these prefix -
yotta zetta exa peta tera giga mega kilo hecto deca deci centi milli micro nano pico femto atto zepto yocto
Metric Prefix Tables

 
SI Prefixes
 
FACTOR
...or in full ...
or in
words
SI
PREFIX
SI
SYMBOL
1,0E+24
1,0E+21
1,0E+18
1,0E+15
1,0E+12
1,0E+9
1,0E+6
1,0E+3
1,0E+2
1,0E+1
1,0E-1
1,0E-2
1,0E-3
1,0E-6
1,0E-9
1,0E-12
1,0E-15
1,0E-18
1,0E-21
1,0E-24 		1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
1 000 000 000 000 000 000
1 000 000 000 000 000
1 000 000 000 000
1 000 000 000
1 000 000
1 000
100
10
0,1
0,01
0,001
0,000 001
0,000 000 001
0,000 000 000 001
0,000 000 000 000 001
0,000 000 000 000 000 001
0,000 000 000 000 000 000 001
0,000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001		 septillion
sextillion
quintillion
quadrillion
trillion
billion
million
thousand
hundred
ten
tenth
hundredth
thousandth
millionth
billionth
trillionth
quadrillionth
quintillionth
sextillionth
septillionth
yotta-
zetta-
exa-
peta-
tera-
giga-
mega-
kilo-
hecto-
deca-
deci-
centi-
milli-
micro-
nano-
pico-
femto-
atto-
zepto-
yocto-
Y
Z
E
P
T
G
M
k
h
da
d
c
m
µ
n
p
f
a
z
y

Note: A very common mistake is that the prefix milli- stands for a millionth.
WRONG!!
As can be seen from the table above, milli stands for a thousandth. It comes from the French, mille for 1000 - they could not use it for the 1000 prefix as that was bagged by the Greek word, kilo

Note: The prefix hecto- to centi- are not 'preferred prefix' but referred to as 'other prefix' by SI, though centi- is in common use as in cubic centimetre or cc.
Le Système International d'Unités (SI) name the prefix giga and nano, milliard and milliardth respectivly. The wording shown here was approved by the General Conference on Weights and Measures and has been adopted in practice.
The scientific notation used in the factors column helps to reduce long numbers to a manageable width. By convention, the number is always shown as a unit [ 1 to 9 ], with decimal places chosen to suit accuracy, and the size of the number is adjusted by changing the magnitude [E+?]. E+01 means moving the decimal point one space to the right so 1.00E+01 is shorthand for 10, then 1.33E+00 stays at 1.33 and 1.33E-01 becomes 0.133. This format tends to be used when the figure gets longer so E+09 or E-09 cuts out a lot of noughts.

Don't confuse scientific notation with powers. You can say, quite rightly, that a million is 10 to the power of 6 [ 10^6 or ] but if you confused it with the scientific notation and had 1^7 the answer would be 1 and not a million ! [ you say one times one is one, seven times, and the answer is still one ]

So it's all a matter of conventions - if we all follow the same rules then the information is passed correctly from one brain to another which is, after all, the object of writing something down.


For metric conversions go to a unit starting with -
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w y
Related pages
" Home page
" Info on SI Units
" SI Unit Descriptions
" SI Derived Units
" SI Prefixes (mega, giga)
" Imperial/UK Units
" Scientific Notation
--(i.e. what is 1.00E+09)
Detail pages
" Feet to metres calculator
" Metres to feet calculator
" British Thermal Units Btu
" Density of bulk materials
" Density of liquids
" Specific Gravity of water
" Density of metals
" Density of woods
" Kitchen metric
" Medical metric
" Parts per million - ppm
" Clothing metric
" Yarn metric
" Time
" cc to hp
" Paper & Envelopes
" Gross to Nett price
" Nett to Gross price
" Add on Commission
" Sheet metal swg - mm
" Wire & rod swg - awg
" Electrical wire swg - awg
" Steam tables (4 pages)
" Watts, amps, volts, ohms
" M Threads & spanners
" Self tapping screws
" M tap & pilot drill sizes
Other useful sections
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last modified : 7th. September 2007

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