In the metric system of measurement, designations of multiples and sub-divisions of any unit may be arrived at by combining with the name of the unit the prefixes deka, hecto, and kilo meaning, respectively, 10, 100, and 1000, and deci, centi, and milli, meaning, respectively, one-tenth, one-hundredth, and one-thousandth. In some of the following metric tables, some such multiples and sub-divisions have not been included for the reason that these have little, if any currency in actual usage.
In certain cases, particularly in scientific usage, it becomes convenient to provide for multiples larger than 1 000 and for subdivisions smaller than one-thousandth. Accordingly, the following prefixes have been introduced and these are now generally recognized:
| yotta, |
(Y), |
meaning 1024 |
|
deci, |
(d), |
meaning 10-1 |
| zetta, |
(Z), |
meaning 1021 |
|
centi, |
(c), |
meaning 10-2 |
| exa, |
(E), |
meaning 1018 |
|
milli, |
(m), |
meaning 10-3 |
| peta, |
(P), |
meaning 1015 |
|
micro, |
(u), |
meaning 10-6 |
| tera, |
(T), |
meaning 1012 |
|
nano, |
(n), |
meaning 10-9 |
| giga, |
(G), |
meaning 109 |
|
pico, |
(p), |
meaning 10-12 |
| mega, |
(M), |
meaning 106 |
|
femto, |
(f), |
meaning 10-15 |
| kilo, |
(k), |
meaning 103 |
|
atto, |
(a), |
meaning 10-18 |
| hecto, |
(h), |
meaning 102 |
|
zepto, |
(z), |
meaning 10-21 |
| deka, |
(da), |
meaning 101 |
|
yocto, |
(y), |
meaning 10-24 |
|
Units of Length |
|
|
| 10 millimeters (mm) |
= 1 centimeter (cm) |
| 10 centimeters |
= 1 decimeter (dm) = 100 millimeters |
| 10 decimeters |
= 1 meter (m) = 1000 millimeters |
| 10 meters |
= 1 dekameter (dam) |
| 10 dekameters |
= 1 hectometer (hm) = 100 meters |
| 10 hectometers |
= 1 kilometer (km) = 1000 meters |
|
