In math, you often use prefixes to write large and small numbers in a simpler way. For example, 2 million byte is much easier to write as 2 megabyte or MB, where M means “mega” and mega .
Theory
Prefixes
| giga | G | billion | |
| mega | M | million | |
| kilo | k | thousand | |
| hecto | h | hundred | |
| deka | da | ten | |
| deci | d | one tenth | |
| centi | c | one hundredth | |
| milli | m | one thousandth | |
| micro | μ | one millionth | |
| nano | n | one billionth | |
Example 1
Uncle Sam bought hectograms (hg) of candy when he was at the store. How many grams does that correspond to?
Hecto (h) means “hundred”. That means Uncle Sam bought
of candy.
Example 2
One stage of the cycling race Tour de France can be 192 kilometers (km) long. How many meters is that?
Kilo (k) means “1000”. Thus, the boys ride
The stage is meters.
Example 3
Albert Einstein was in the laboratory playing with a microscope. While playing, he saw an organism weighing 521 micrograms. How many grams is that?
Micro (μ) means millionth. Thus, the organism weighed
Note! You switch the prefix with the numeric value of the prefix.
