Metric Symbols & Prefixes


Symbol	Prefix	Multiplication Factor
E	exa	10^18	1,000,000,000,000,000,000
P	peta	10^15	1,000,000,000,000,000
T	tera	10^12	1,000,000,000,000
G	giga	10^9	1,000,000,000
M	mega	10^6	1,000,000
k	kilo	10^3	1,000
h	hecto	10^2	100
da	deka	10^1	10
d	deci	10^-1	0.1
c	centi	10^-2	0.01
m	milli	10^-3	0.001
µ	micro	10^-6	0.000,001
n	nano	10^-9	0.000,000,001
p	pico	10^-12	0.000,000,000,001
f	femto	10^-15	0.000,000,000,000,001
a	atto	10^-18	0.000,000,000,000,000,001

The table above shows metric symbols, their prefixes, and the multiplication factor they represent. Metric symbols and prefixes are used frequently in electronics. Capacitors, for example, are often measured in picofarads (pF) and microfarads(µF). Using the metric symbols is much easier than writing out the entire number, but it may take some time memorizing the symbols, prefixes, and their value.

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