Tech Note #17: Numeric Prefixes
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1999 Bionic Buffalo Corporation; All Rights Reserved.
27 June 1999
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Bionic Buffalo Tech Note #17:
Numeric Prefixes
last revised Sunday 27 June 1999
©1999 Bionic Buffalo Corporation. All rights reserved.
Tatanka and TOAD are trademarks of Bionic Buffalo Corporation.
Overview
Certain numeric prefixes are in common use. These are also sometimes called “scientific”
prefixes. Examples include kilo- (as in kilometer), mega- (as in megabyte), and centi- (as in
centimeter). This paper lists the common numeric prefixes, and their etymologies.
Standard Prefixes
These are the common standard prefixes:
Prefix
Abbreviation
Value
Origin
yotta
Y
10
24
Latin octo, “eight”
zetta
Z
10
21
Latin septem, “seven”
exa
E
10
18
Greek hex, “six”
peta
P
10
15
Greek pente, “five”
tera
T
10
12
Greek teras, “monster”
giga
G
10
9
Greek gigas, “giant”
mega
M
10
6
Greek megas, “great” or “large”
kilo
k
10
3
Greek khilioi, “thousand”
hecto
h
10
2
Greek hekaton, “hundred”
deca or deka
da
10
Greek deka, “ten”
deci
d
10
-1
Latin decimus, “tenth”