UNDERSTANDING THE METRIC
SYSTEM
The
Metric System is based on powers of ten. The table below shows the progression
of prefixes.
|
PREFIX
|
SYMBOL
|
MATHEMATICAL
VALUE
|
|
exa-
|
E
|
1,000,000,000,000,000,000
|
|
peta-
|
P
|
1,000,000,000,000,000
|
|
tera-
|
T
|
1,000,000,000,000
|
|
giga-
|
G
|
1,000,000,000
|
|
meg-
|
M
|
1,000,000
|
|
kilo-
|
k
|
1,000
|
|
hecto-
|
h
|
100
|
|
deka-
|
da
|
10
|
|
(meter,
liter, gram)
|
1
|
|
|
deci-
|
d
|
0.1
|
|
centi-
|
c
|
0.01
|
|
milli-
|
m
|
0.001
|
|
micro-
|
µ
|
0.000,001
|
|
nano-
|
n
|
0.000,000,001
|
|
pico-
|
p
|
0.000,000,000,001
|
|
femto-
|
f
|
0.000,000,000,000,001
|
|
atto-
|
a
|
0.000,000,000,000,000,001
|
The
unit of measurement from length is the meter. The progression
of the
more common units of measure are:
| kilometer | km | 1,000 meters |
| meter | m | 1.0 |
| centimeter | cm | 0.01 meters |
| millimeter | mm | 0.001 meters |
| nanometers | nm | 0.000,000,001 meters |
The
unit of measure for capacity is the liter, so the measurements
allow
the same progression, such as kiloliter, centiliter, and so on.
The
unit of measure for weight is the gram, so the measurement prefixes
are kilogram, centigram, and so forth.
When
making conversions within the metric system, each change in prefix
represents one decimal point move. If you move downward one the chart,
the decimal places will be added. If you move upward, the decimal places
are moved to the left.