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SI Prefixes


The SI prefixes are the 24 power-of-10 prefixes specified by the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) for use in the International System of Units (SI). They are summarized in the table below, using the American spelling 'deka' instead of 'deca,' and specified by NIST Special Publication SP811 (Thompson and Taylor 2008, p. iv). The four prefixes quetta, ronna, ronto, and quecto were adopted by the 27th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM 2022).

prefixsymbol10^n1000^kdecimal(American) English word
quettaQ10^(30)1000^(10)1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000nonillion
ronnaR10^(27)1000^91 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000octillion
yottaY10^(24)1000^81 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000septillion
zettaZ10^(21)1000^71 000 000 000 000 000 000 000sextillion
exaE10^(18)1000^61 000 000 000 000 000 000quintillion
petaP10^(15)1000^51 000 000 000 000 000quadrillion
teraT10^(12)1000^41 000 000 000 000trillion
gigaG10^91000^31 000 000 000billion
megaM10^61000^21 000 000million
kilok10^31000^11 000thousand
hectoh10^21000^(2/3)100hundred
dekada10^11000^(1/3)10ten
10^01000^01one
decid10^(-1)1000^(-1/3)0.1tenth
centic10^(-2)1000^(-2/3)0.01hundredth
millim10^(-3)1000^(-1)0.001thousandth
micromu10^(-6)1000^(-2)0.000 001millionth
nanon10^(-9)1000^(-3)0.000 000 001billionth
picop10^(-12)1000^(-4)0.000 000 000 001trillionth
femtof10^(-15)1000^(-5)0.000 000 000 000 001quadrillionth
attoa10^(-18)1000^(-6)0.000 000 000 000 000 001quintillionth
zeptoz10^(-21)1000^(-7)0.000 000 000 000 000 000 001sextillionth
yoctoy10^(-24)1000^(-8)0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001septillionth
rontor10^(-27)1000^(-9)0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001octillionth
quectoq10^(-30)1000^(-10)0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001nonillionth

See also

Engineering Notation, Scientific Notation

Portions of this entry contributed by Christopher Stover

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References

BIPM. "SI Prefixes." https://www.bipm.org/en/measurement-units/si-prefixes.CGPM. "Resolution 3 of the 27th CGPM: On the Extension of the Range of SI Prefixes." 2022. https://doi.org/10.59161/CGPM2022RES3E.Thompson, A. and Taylor, B. N. "Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI)." NIST Special Publication SP811, 2008 ed. https://www.nist.gov/pml/special-publication-811.

Referenced on Wolfram|Alpha

SI Prefixes

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W., with contributions by Christopher Stover. "SI Prefixes." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/SIPrefixes.html

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