Metric Prefixes
Often in electronics, you will need to use units that are much larger or smaller than the standard volt, ampere, or ohm. To do so, you can attach a metric prefix before the unit. The following table shows many of the standard prefixes used.
Prefix | Symbol | Decimal Multiplier |
---|---|---|
yotta | Y | 1×1024 |
zetta | Z | 1×1021 |
exa | E | 1×1018 |
peta | P | 1×1015 |
tera | T | 1×1012 |
giga | G | 1×109 |
mega | M | 1×106 |
kilo | k | 1×103 |
hecto | h | 1×102 |
deca | da | 1×101 |
deci | d | 1×10-1 |
centi | c | 1×10-2 |
milli | m | 1×10-3 |
micro | μ | 1×10-6 |
nano | n | 1×10-9 |
pico | p | 1×10-12 |
femto | f | 1×10-15 |
atto | a | 1×10-18 |
zepto | z | 1×10-21 |
yocto | y | 1×10-24 |
As examples: 0.004 amperes can be written as 4 mA (milliamperes) and 6.2 MΩ (MegaOhms) is the same as 6,200,000 Ω