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Mathematical Foundations: Number Prefixes


1 Introduction

Computer scientists just love to use impressive-sounding words when discussing reall big and really small numbers. For example, we talk about kilobytes and megabytes, milliseconds and microseconds. What does all of this mean and what comes next?

2 Big Numbers

Here are the prefixes for big numbers:

Prefix Power of 10 Description Number
kilo 3 thousands 1,000
mega 6 millions 1,000,000
giga 9 billions 1,000,000,000
tera 12 trillions 1,000,000,000,000
peta 15 quadrillions 1,000,000,000,000,000
exa 18 quintillions 1,000,000,000,000,000,000
zetta 21 sextillions 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
yotta 24 septillions 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

3 Small Numbers

Here are the prefixes for small numbers:

Prefix Power of 10 Description Number
milli -3 thousandths 0.001
micro -6 millionths 0.000001
nano -9 billionths 0.000000001
pico -12 trillionths 0.000000000001
femto -15 quadrillionths 0.000000000000001
atto -18 quintillionths 0.000000000000000001
zepto -21 sextillionths 0.000000000000000000001
yocto -24 septillionths 0.000000000000000000000001

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