Decimal prefixes

By adding a decimal unit prefix after a unit, we change the magnitude (power of 10) of the unit/amount.

For example, 1 kilometre (km) is 1000 metres (m), or 10^3 metres.

Example conversions

Example: Convert 5 kilometres to metres.

• 1 kilometre (km) = 10^3 metres (m)
• Therefore, 5 km = 5 \times 10^3 m = 5000 m

Example: Convert 2500 milligrams to grams.

• 1 milligram (mg) = 10^{-3} grams (g)
• Therefore, 2500 mg = 2500 \times 10^{-3} g = 2.5 g

Example: Convert 3 megabytes to bytes.

• 1 megabyte (MB) = 10^{6} bytes (B)
• Therefore, 3 MB = 3 \times 10^{6} B = 3,000,000 B

Example: Convert 0.75 gigawatts to watts.

• 1 gigawatt (GW) = 10^{9} watts (W)
• Therefore, 0.75 GW = 0.75 \times 10^{9} W = 750,000,000 W

Example: Convert 120 centimeters to meters.

• 1 centimeter (cm) = 10^{-2} meters (m)
• Therefore, 120 cm = 120 \times 10^{-2} m = 1.2 m

Example: Convert 0.005 terabytes to megabytes.

• 1 terabyte (TB) = 10^{12} bytes (B)
• 1 megabyte (MB) = 10^{6} bytes (B)
• Therefore, 0.005 TB = 0.005 \times 10^{12} B = 5 \times 10^{9} B = 5000 MB

Example: Convert 732 femtometers to meters

• 1 femtometer (fm) = 10^{-15} meters (m)
• Therefore, 732 fm = 732 \times 10^{-15} m = 7.32 \times 10^{-13} m