Kilo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
kilo- (symbol: k) is a prefix in the SI and other systems of units denoting 103 or 1,000. For example:
- one kilogram is 1,000 grams
- one kilometre is 1,000 metres
- one kilowatt is 1,000 watts
- one kilojoule is 1,000 joules
Officially adopted in 1795 (though in common use before that), it comes from the Greek χίλιοι ("khilioi"), meaning thousand.
| 1000n | 10n | Prefix | Symbol | Short scale | Long scale | Decimal equivalent in SI writing style |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10008 | 1024 | yotta | Y | Septillion | Quadrillion | 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 |
| 10007 | 1021 | zetta | Z | Sextillion | Trilliard (thousand trillion) | 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 |
| 10006 | 1018 | exa | E | Quintillion | Trillion | 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 |
| 10005 | 1015 | peta | P | Quadrillion | Billiard (thousand billion) | 1 000 000 000 000 000 |
| 10004 | 1012 | tera | T | Trillion | Billion | 1 000 000 000 000 |
| 10003 | 109 | giga | G | Billion | Milliard (thousand million) | 1 000 000 000 |
| 10002 | 106 | mega | M | Million | 1 000 000 | |
| 10001 | 103 | kilo | k | Thousand | 1 000 | |
| 10002/3 | 102 | hecto | h | Hundred | 100 | |
| 10001/3 | 101 | deca, deka | da | Ten | 10 | |
| 10000 | 100 | (none) | (none) | One | 1 | |
| 1000−1/3 | 10−1 | deci | d | Tenth | 0.1 | |
| 1000−2/3 | 10−2 | centi | c | Hundredth | 0.01 | |
| 1000−1 | 10−3 | milli | m | Thousandth | 0.001 | |
| 1000−2 | 10−6 | micro | µ (u) | Millionth | 0.000 001 | |
| 1000−3 | 10−9 | nano | n | Billionth | Milliardth | 0.000 000 001 |
| 1000−4 | 10−12 | pico | p | Trillionth | Billionth | 0.000 000 000 001 |
| 1000−5 | 10−15 | femto | f | Quadrillionth | Billiardth | 0.000 000 000 000 001 |
| 1000−6 | 10−18 | atto | a | Quintillionth | Trillionth | 0.000 000 000 000 000 001 |
| 1000−7 | 10−21 | zepto | z | Sextillionth | Trilliardth | 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 001 |
| 1000−8 | 10−24 | yocto | y | Septillionth | Quadrillionth | 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001 |
[edit] Use in computing
In computing, kilo does not always denote 1,000 but is sometimes equal to 1,024 (210), most often when discussing storage. (See Binary prefix or Mebibyte for more details)
Hard disk manufacturers use the normal decimal prefixes listed above instead of the binary prefixes that are customary in computer memory, which some claim is an intentionally misleading overstatement of capacity. This effect is stronger as the capacity grows. In the case of a kilobyte the difference is only 2.4%, but for a terabyte the difference is about 10%.
