Tech Note #17: Numeric Prefixes
©
1999 Bionic Buffalo Corporation; All Rights Reserved.
27 June 1999
http://www.tatanka.com
Page
2 of 2
Prefix
Abbreviation
Value
Origin
centi
c
10
-2
Latin centum, “hundred”
milli
m
10
-3
Latin mille, “thousand”
micro
µ or mc
10
-6
Greek mikros, “small”
nano
n
10
-9
Greek nanos, “dwarf”
pico
p
10
-12
Spanish pico, “small quantity”
femto
f
10
-15
Norse fimmt an, “fifteen”
atto
a
10
-18
Norse attjan, “eighteen”
zepto
z
10
-21
Latin septem, “seven”
yocto
y
10
-24
Greek okto, “eight”
Note that, in some cases, the distinction between upper and lower case is crucial for the
abbreviations. For instance, mega- uses M, while milli- uses m. The upper-case abbreviation is
used for the larger quantity.
This Tech Note may be reproduced and distributed without payment of fees or without
notification to Bionic Buffalo, as long as it is not changed, altered, or edited in any way. Any
distribution or copy must include the entire Tech Note, with the original title, copyright notice,
and this paragraph. For available Tech Notes, please see the Bionic Buffalo web site, at
http://www.tatanka.com/doc/technote/index.htm, or email query@tatanka.com.