Powers Of 10
In mathematics, a power of ten is any of the integer powers of the number ten; in other words, ten multiplied by itself a certain number of times. By definition, the number one is a power (the zeroth power) of ten. The first few powers of ten are:
- 1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000, 100000, 1000000, 1000000000 ... (sequence A011557 in OEIS)
| Name | Power | Number | SI symbol | SI prefix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One | 0 | 1 | - | uni |
| Ten | 1 | 10 | da | deca |
| Hundred | 2 | 100 | h | hecto |
| Thousand | 3 | 1,000 | k | kilo |
| Million | 6 | 1,000,000 | M | mega |
| Billion (Milliard) | 9 | 1,000,000,000 | G | giga |
| Trillion (Billion) | 12 | 1,000,000,000,000 | T | tera |
| Quadrillion | 15 | 1,000,000,000,000,000 | P | peta |
| Quintillion | 18 | 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 | E | exa |
| Sextillion | 21 | 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 | Z | zetta |
| Septillion | 24 | 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 | Y | yotta |
In decimal notation the nth power of ten is written as '1' followed by n zeroes. It can also be written as 10n or as 1En in E notation. See order of magnitude and orders of magnitude (numbers) for named powers of ten.
The sequence of powers of ten can also be extended to negative powers:
| Name | Power | Number | SI symbol | SI prefix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tenth | −1 | 0.1 | d | deci |
| Hundredth | −2 | 0.01 | c | centi |
| Thousandth | −3 | 0.001 | m | milli |
| Millionth | −6 | 0.000 001 | μ | micro |
| Billionth | −9 | 0.000 000 001 | n | nano |
| Trillionth | −12 | 0.000 000 000 001 | p | pico |
| Quadrillionth | −15 | 0.000 000 000 000 001 | f | femto |
| Quintillionth | −18 | 0.000 000 000 000 000 001 | a | atto |
| Sextillionth | −21 | 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 001 | z | zepto |
| Septillionth | −24 | 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001 | y | yocto |
Read more about Powers Of 10: Googol, Scientific Notation
Famous quotes containing the words powers of and/or powers:
“Magic and all that is ascribed to it is a deep presentiment of the powers of science.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“For human nature, being more highly pitched, selved, and distinctive than anything in the world, can have been developed, evolved, condensed, from the vastness of the world not anyhow or by the working of common powers but only by one of finer or higher pitch and determination than itself.”
—Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889)