Prefixes
Prefixes are often used in physics to help express numbers that are extremely small or extremely large. It is important to be familiar with the most common prefixes.
Prefixes for Powers of 10
Power |
Prefix |
Abbr |
|
|
10-9 |
nano |
n |
0.000 000 001 |
1/1,000,000,000 |
10-6 |
micro |
m |
0.000 001 |
1/1,000,000 |
10-3 |
milli |
m |
0.001 |
1/1,000 |
10-2 |
centi |
c |
0.01 |
1/100 |
10-1 |
deci |
d |
0.1 |
1/10 |
101 |
deka |
da |
10 |
10 |
102 |
hecto |
h |
100 |
10 x 10 |
103 |
kilo |
k |
1,000 |
10 x 10 x 10 |
106 |
mega |
M |
1,000,000 |
10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 |
109 |
giga |
G |
1,000,000,000 |
10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 |