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Look up peta- in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
In physics and mathematics, peta- (symbol: P) is a prefix in the SI (system of units) denoting 1015, or 1,000,000,000,000,000. For example:
1 petametre = 1015 metres
1 petasecond = 1015 seconds
Adopted in 1975, it comes from the Greek πέντε, meaning five, because it is equal to 10005. It is based on the model of tera- (from Greek τέρας = 'monster', but looking like tetra- from the Greek for "four" with a letter missing), and so peta-, coming from penta-, omits the third letter, n.
Examples:
- the mass–energy equivalence is 89.9 PJ/kg
- 1 light-year = 9.461 Pm
In computer science peta- can sometimes mean 1 125 899 906 842 624 (10245 or 250), instead of 1 000 000 000 000 000, especially when used to prefix the byte, giving a petabyte. To resolve this ambiguity, the term pebibyte has been suggested to mean 250 bytes.
| 1000m | 10n | Prefix | Symbol | Since[1] | Short scale | Long scale | Decimal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10008 | 1024 | yotta | Y | 1991 | Septillion | Quadrillion | 1000000000000000000000000 |
| 10007 | 1021 | zetta | Z | 1991 | Sextillion | Trilliard | 1000000000000000000000 |
| 10006 | 1018 | exa | E | 1975 | Quintillion | Trillion | 1000000000000000000 |
| 10005 | 1015 | peta | P | 1975 | Quadrillion | Billiard | 1000000000000000 |
| 10004 | 1012 | tera | T | 1960 | Trillion | Billion | 1000000000000 |
| 10003 | 109 | giga | G | 1960 | Billion | Milliard | 1000000000 |
| 10002 | 106 | mega | M | 1960 | Million | 1 000 000 | |
| 10001 | 103 | kilo | k | 1795 | Thousand | 1000 | |
| 10002⁄3 | 102 | hecto | h | 1795 | Hundred | 100 | |
| 10001⁄3 | 101 | deca | da | 1795 | Ten | 10 | |
| 10000 | 100 | (none) | (none) | NA | One | 1 | |
| 1000−1⁄3 | 10−1 | deci | d | 1795 | Tenth | 0.1 | |
| 1000−2⁄3 | 10−2 | centi | c | 1795 | Hundredth | 0.01 | |
| 1000−1 | 10−3 | milli | m | 1795 | Thousandth | 0.001 | |
| 1000−2 | 10−6 | micro | µ | 1960[2] | Millionth | 0.000001 | |
| 1000−3 | 10−9 | nano | n | 1960 | Billionth | Milliardth | 0.000000001 |
| 1000−4 | 10−12 | pico | p | 1960 | Trillionth | Billionth | 0.000000000001 |
| 1000−5 | 10−15 | femto | f | 1964 | Quadrillionth | Billiardth | 0.000000000000001 |
| 1000−6 | 10−18 | atto | a | 1964 | Quintillionth | Trillionth | 0.000000000000000001 |
| 1000−7 | 10−21 | zepto | z | 1991 | Sextillionth | Trilliardth | 0.000000000000000000001 |
| 1000−8 | 10−24 | yocto | y | 1991 | Septillionth | Quadrillionth | 0.000000000000000000000001 |
See also
External links
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