Kilo-

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Kilo is a unit prefix in the metric system of measurement, denoting multiplication by one thousand (103). The International System of Units reserves the lowercase symbol k.

Contents

Kilo is derived from the Greek word χίλιοι (chilioi), meaning "thousand".

In 19th century English the prefix was sometimes spelled chilio, in line with a puristic opinion by Thomas Young. [1] [2] As an opponent of suggestions to introduce the metric system in Britain, he qualified the nomenclature adopted in France as barbarous.

Examples

By extension, currencies are sometimes also preceded by the prefix:

kilobyte

For multiples of the byte in some fields of computer science and information technology, another definition has been in common use, in which the kilobyte measures 1024 bytes (210 bytes), because 210 is approximately 103. The reason for this application is that digital hardware natively use base 2 exponentiation.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) comments on the confusion caused by these contrasting definitions: "Faced with this reality, the IEEE Standards Board decided that IEEE standards will use the conventional, internationally adopted, definitions of the SI prefixes." [3] A new set of binary prefixes, based on powers of 2, was introduced by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), which defines 1024 bytes as one kibibyte (1 KiB).

Exponentiation

When units occur in exponentiation, such as in square and cubic forms, any multiplier prefix is part of the unit, and thus included in the exponentiation.

See also

References

  1. Brewster, David (1832). The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia. Vol. 12 (1st American ed.). Joseph and Edward Parker. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
  2. Dingler, Johann Gottfried (1823). Polytechnisches Journal (in German). Vol. 11. Stuttgart, Germany: J.W. Gotta'schen Buchhandlung. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
  3. Definition of binary prefixes at NIST
PrefixBase 10 Decimal Adoption
[nb 1]
NameSymbol
quettaQ 1030 10000000000000000000000000000002022 [1]
ronnaR 1027 1000000000000000000000000000
yottaY 1024 10000000000000000000000001991
zettaZ 1021 1000000000000000000000
exaE 1018 10000000000000000001975 [2]
petaP 1015 1000000000000000
teraT 1012 10000000000001960
giga G 109 1000000000
mega M 106 10000001873
kilo k 103 10001795
hecto h 102 100
deca da 101 10
100 1
deci d 10−1 0.11795
centi c 10−2 0.01
milli m 10−3 0.001
micro μ 10−6 0.0000011873
nano n 10−9 0.0000000011960
picop 10−12 0.000000000001
femtof 10−15 0.0000000000000011964
attoa 10−18 0.000000000000000001
zeptoz 10−21 0.0000000000000000000011991
yoctoy 10−24 0.000000000000000000000001
rontor 10−27 0.0000000000000000000000000012022 [1]
quectoq 10−30 0.000000000000000000000000000001
Notes
  1. Prefixes adopted before 1960 already existed before SI. The introduction of the centimetre–gram–second system of units was in 1873.
  1. 1 2 On the extension of the range of SI prefixes. CGPM. Resolution 3 of the 27th CGPM (2022). BIPM. 18 November 2022. doi:10.59161/cgpm2022res3e . Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  2. "Metric (SI) Prefixes". NIST.