Scientific SI Prefixes

In all of science, there are prefixes which are used to are attached to units in order to have a word representation of having differing multiples of 10.  An example of this is the fact that a kilometer is one meter times 1000, or one meter times "three multiples of 10" ($10^3$).  We can also go the other way; a millimeter is one meter divided by 1000, or one meter divided by "three multiples of 10" ($10^3$).  When we have a situation of "divided by $10^3$", as mentioned in the Algebra Lecture Series, it is equivalent to saying "multiplied by $10^-3$".  Notice that the "divided by" has a positive exponent while the "divided by" has a negative exponent.  That stems from the exponent subtraction rule in Algebra.

Here's the list of all of the prefixes and what they represent in two numeric forms:

Prefix
Symbol
Multiplier
Exponential
yotta
Y
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
$N \times 10^{24}$
zetta
Z
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
$N \times 10^{21}$
exa
E
1,000,000,000,000,000,000
$N \times 10^{18}$
peta
P
1,000,000,000,000,000
$N \times 10^{15}$
tera
T
1,000,000,000,000
$N \times 10^{12}$
giga
G
1,000,000,000
$N \times 10^{9}$
mega
M
1,000,000
$N \times 10^{6}$
kilo
k
1,000
$N \times 10^{3}$
hecto
h
100
$N \times 10^{2}$
deca
da
10
$N \times 10^{1}$
(None)
(None)
1
$N \times 10^{0}$
deci
d
0.1
$N \times 10^{-1}$
centi
c
0.01
$N \times 10^{-2}$
milli
m
0.001
$N \times 10^{-3}$
micro
µ
0.000001
$N \times 10^{-6}$
nano
n
0.000000001
$N \times 10^{-9}$
pico
p
0.000000000001
$N \times 10^{-12}$
femto
f
0.000000000000001
$N \times 10^{-15}$
atto
a
0.000000000000000001
$N \times 10^{-18}$
zepto
z
0.000000000000000000001
$N \times 10^{-21}$
yocto
y
0.000000000000000000000001
$N \times 10^{-24}$

That's the end of this section.  If you have any questions, please leave them is the comments.  Like and share this post if you found it helpful, and until next time, stay curious.

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