Names of small numbers

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This is a list of the names of small decimal numbers in English.

Contents

Table

The following table lists the names of small numbers used in the long and short scales, along with the power of 10, engineering notation, and International System of Units (SI) symbols and prefixes. [1] [ page needed ] [2] [ page needed ] [3] [ page needed ] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Power
of
ten
Engineering
notation

[ citation needed ]
Short scale
(U.S. and
modern British)
Long scale
(continental Europe,
archaic British, and India)
SI
prefix
SI
symbol
1001 One
10−1100×10−3One Tenth deci- d
10−210×10−3One One-Hundredth centi- c
10−31×10−3One One-Thousandth milli- m
10−61×10−6One One-Millionth micro- μ
10−91×10−9One One-Billionth One One-Milliardth nano- n
10−121×10−12One One-Trillionth One One-Billionth pico- p
10−151×10−15One One-Quadrillionth One One-Billiardth femto- f
10−181×10−18One One-Quintillionth One One-Trillionth atto- a
10−211×10−21One One-Sextillionth One One-Trilliardth zepto- z
10−241×10−24One One-Septillionth One One-Quadrillionth yocto- y
10−271×10−27One One-Octillionth One One-Quardilliardth ronto- r
10−301×10−30One One-Nonillionth One One-Quintillionth quecto- q
10−331×10−33One One-DecillionthOne One-Quintilliardth
10−361×10−36One One-UndecillionthOne One-Sextillionth
01×10−∞Zero
–1–1Negative One
−∞undefinedNegative Infinity

See also

Related Research Articles

A binary prefix is a unit prefix that indicates a multiple of a unit of measurement by an integer power of two. The most commonly used binary prefixes are kibi (symbol Ki, meaning 210 = 1024), mebi (Mi, 220 = 1048576), and gibi (Gi, 230 = 1073741824). They are most often used in information technology as multipliers of bit and byte, when expressing the capacity of storage devices or the size of computer files.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calorie</span> Unit of energy used in nutrition

The calorie is a unit of energy that originated from the caloric theory of heat. The large calorie, food calorie, dietary calorie, or kilogram calorie is defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one liter of water by one degree Celsius. The small calorie or gram calorie is defined as the amount of heat needed to cause the same increase in one milliliter of water. Thus, 1 large calorie is equal to 1000 small calories.

Giga- ( or ) is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of a short-scale billion or long-scale milliard (109 or 1,000,000,000). It has the symbol G.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kilogram</span> Metric unit of mass

The kilogram is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI), having the unit symbol kg. It is a widely used measure in science, engineering and commerce worldwide, and is often simply called a kilo colloquially. It means 'one thousand grams'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">K</span> 11th letter of the Latin alphabet

K, or k, is the eleventh letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is kay, plural kays.

The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Litre</span> Unit of volume

The litre or liter is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metres (m3). A cubic decimetre occupies a volume of 10 cm × 10 cm × 10 cm and is thus equal to one-thousandth of a cubic metre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Micrometre</span> Unit of length; one millionth of a metre

The micrometre as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer, also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI) equalling 1×10−6 metre ; that is, one millionth of a metre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International System of Units</span> Modern form of the metric system

The International System of Units, internationally known by the abbreviation SI, is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. Coordinated by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures it is the only system of measurement with an official status in nearly every country in the world, employed in science, technology, industry, and everyday commerce.

A metric prefix is a unit prefix that precedes a basic unit of measure to indicate a multiple or submultiple of the unit. All metric prefixes used today are decadic. Each prefix has a unique symbol that is prepended to any unit symbol. The prefix kilo-, for example, may be added to gram to indicate multiplication by one thousand: one kilogram is equal to one thousand grams. The prefix milli-, likewise, may be added to metre to indicate division by one thousand; one millimetre is equal to one thousandth of a metre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tonne</span> Metric unit of mass equivalent to 1,000 kilograms or 1 megagram

The tonne is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton and the long ton. It is equivalent to approximately 2,204.6 pounds, 1.102 short tons, and 0.984 long tons. The official SI unit is the megagram (Mg), a less common way to express the same amount.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kilometre</span> Unit of length equal to 1,000 metres

The kilometre, spelt kilometer in American English and Philippine English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres. It is the preferred measurement unit to express distances between geographical places on land in most of the world; notable exceptions are the United States and the United Kingdom where the statute mile is used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hectometre</span> SI unit of length

The hectometre or hectometer is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one hundred metres and to one tenth of a kilometre. The word comes from a combination of "metre" and the SI prefix "hecto-", meaning "hundred". It is not commonly used in English. A football field is approximately 1 hectometre in length. The hectare (ha), a common metric unit for land area, is equal to one square hectometre (hm2).

Two naming scales for large numbers have been used in English and other European languages since the early modern era: the long and short scales. Most English variants use the short scale today, but the long scale remains dominant in many non-English-speaking areas, including continental Europe and Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America. These naming procedures are based on taking the number n occurring in 103n+3 or 106n and concatenating Latin roots for its units, tens, and hundreds place, together with the suffix -illion.

The long and short scales are two of several naming systems for integer powers of ten which use some of the same terms for different magnitudes.

<i>Myria-</i> Obsolete metric prefix

Myria- (symbol my) is a now obsolete decimal metric prefix denoting a factor of 104 (ten thousand). It originates from the Greek μύριοι (mýrioi) (myriad). The prefix was part of the original metric system adopted by France in 1795, but was not adopted when the SI prefixes were internationally adopted by the 11th CGPM conference in 1960.

A unit prefix is a specifier or mnemonic that is prepended to units of measurement to indicate multiples or fractions of the units. Units of various sizes are commonly formed by the use of such prefixes. The prefixes of the metric system, such as kilo and milli, represent multiplication by positive or negative powers of ten. In information technology it is common to use binary prefixes, which are based on powers of two. Historically, many prefixes have been used or proposed by various sources, but only a narrow set has been recognised by standards organisations.

Numeral or number prefixes are prefixes derived from numerals or occasionally other numbers. In English and many other languages, they are used to coin numerous series of words. For example:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hectare</span> Metric unit of area

The hectare is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, 10,000 square meters, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is about 0.405 hectares and one hectare contains about 2.47 acres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angstrom</span> Unit of length; equals 0.1 nanometre

The angstrom or ångström is a metric unit of length equal to 10−10 m; that is, one ten-billionth (US) of a metre, a hundred-millionth of a centimetre, 0.1 nanometre, or 100 picometres. Its symbol is Å, a letter of the Swedish alphabet. The unit is named after the Swedish physicist Anders Jonas Ångström (1814–1874).

References

  1. American Heritage Dictionary , 4th edition, ISBN   0-395-82517-2. "The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. 2000". Archived from the original on 2007-01-12. Retrieved 2004-05-29.
  2. Oxford English Dictionary, New Edition, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. (subscription required)
  3. Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM)
  4. "Metric (SI) Prefixes". NIST . 13 January 2010.
  5. "Large and Small Numbers - Metric Prefixes". 2012-08-26. Archived from the original on 2013-07-24. Retrieved 2014-07-07.
  6. Savidtra (2013-07-01). "Big & Small Numbers". ThinkQuest. Archived from the original on 2012-11-11. Retrieved 2014-07-07.
  7. Manske, Magnus (2011-05-02). "Names of large and small numbers". Archived from the original on 2011-09-03. Retrieved 2014-07-07.