The metre is the fundamental unit of length; for convenience we often use the term kilometre (greater than one metre- a multiple) or millimetre (less than one Metre- a sub-multiple). The same system is used with all electrical units.
Multiple |
Sub-multiple |
Abbreviation |
Meaning |
Example |
giga |
- |
G |
x109 |
GHz |
mega |
- |
M |
x106 |
MW |
kilo |
- |
k |
x103 |
kV |
- |
milli |
m |
x10-3 |
mA |
- |
micro |
|
x10-6 |
|
- |
nano |
n |
x10-9 |
ns |
- |
pico |
p |
x10-12 |
pF |
With the exception of 'kilo', multiples use capital letters and sub-multiples small letters in the abbreviations.
103 means 'times 1000', i.e. 1 km = l000m; the index 3 indicates the number of places the decimal point must be moved to the right. Similarly 10-3 means 'divided by 1000', i.e. 1 mm = 0.001 m; the index -3 indicates the number of places the decimal point must be moved to the left.
Multiplication-add indices; division-subtract indices (for a common base).
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