Metric System Prefixes Chart

There are different measurement systems used in the world. The most commonly used and internationally accepted system in measurement is the metric system. The metric system has its origin in France. It was adopted officially in France in the year 1791. This system uses the decimal system of measurement. Although most people find the metric system unnerving, it is actually the easiest one to understand and assimilate. The International System of units has adopted the metric system in the 1960s'. Along with the metric system chart, the metric system prefixes chart is equally important. With the metric system chart for kids, the prefixes chart make it easy for the kids to understand the metric system. Before we turn towards the metric prefixes chart, we will understand the full metric system chart in short.

Metric System Chart

In metric system conversion, there are three basic units, which are meter, gram and liter. The unit of measurement used for weight is gram. Meter is the unit of measurement used for measuring length, while the liquid measurement and equivalents in the metric system is liter. To the basic units different prefixes are affixed, which ensures that no conversion from one unit to another has to be undertaken. The standard set of prefixes are in powers of ten. Using the positive as well as negative powers of ten are the units larger and smaller than the basic units derived.

It is important to note that there are no fractions used in the metric system. Likewise, there is no use of decimal units to measure time either. Multiples and sub multiples of seconds are used to describe time. The prefixes like mega and nano are affixed before the seconds to give the smaller units of time. It was this simplicity of the metric measurements units and conversions, which encouraged its adoption as the international system of measurement.

After reading about this, you may have a question about the use of metric prefixes in the metric system chart. The prefixes indicate that the basic unit has either been multiplied or divided by a factor of ten. It can either be a positive or a negative factor of ten. This brings us to the metric prefixes. The prefixes that are used from the lowest to the highest value are as under:

• Milli-
• Centi-
• Deci-
• Meter/Gram/Liter
• Deca-
• Hecto-
• Kilo-

For further detailed information refer to the Buzzle write-up metric system conversion charts. We will now turn towards metric prefixes and values.

Metric System Prefixes Chart

In the metric system conversion table, the values are both positive and negative powers of number 10. It is important to remember that some of the units in the metric system for kids and adults are used more widely as compared to others. At the same time, some small units and some large units are used only for advanced mathematical and scientific purposes only. An interesting part about the metric system prefixes and abbreviations is that the units are derived from Latin and Greek. The positive powers are derived from Greek, while the negative powers are derived from Latin. The only exception is micro, which is a Greek word. It was only after the introduction of the metric system, the Greek greater than one and Latin less than one conversions went out of circulation.

Symbol	Prefix	10n	Multiplication Factor	In Words
Y	yotta	1024	1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000	septillion
Z	zetta	1021	1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000	sextillion
E	exa	1018	1,000,000,000,000,000,000	quintillion
P	peta	1015	1,000,000,000,000,000	quadrillion
T	tera	1012	1,000,000,000,000	trillion
G	giga	109	1,000,000,000	billion
M	mega	106	1,000,000	million
k	kilo	103	1,000	thousand
h	hecto	102	100	hundred
da	deca	101	10	ten
		100	1	one
d	deci	10-1	0.1	tenth
c	centi	10-2	0.01	hundredth
m	milli	10-3	0.001	thousandth
µ	micro	10-6	0.000,001	millionth
n	nano	10-9	0.000,000,001	billionth
p	pico	10-12	0.000,000,000,001	trillionth
f	femto	10-15	0.000,000,000,000,001	quadrillionth
a	atto	10-18	0.000,000,000,000,000,001	quintillionth
z	zepto	10-21	0.000,000,000,000,000,000,001	sextillionth
y	yocto	10-24	0.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,001	septillionth

This prefixes chart will help in converting different units of measurements both for adults as well as kids. At the same time, using this chart along with the metric system chart will help in better understanding of the metric system.