What Does Prefix Kilo Mean

Decimal unit prefix in the metric system

Look up kilo- in Wiktionary, the gratis dictionary.

Kilo is a decimal unit prefix in the metric system denoting multiplication by 1000 (ten^three). Information technology is used in the International System of Units, where it has the symbol k, in lowercase.

The prefix kilo is derived from the Greek word χίλιοι ( chilioi ), significant "thou".

In 19th century English it was sometimes spelled chilio, in line with a puristic opinion by Thomas Young.^[1] ^[2] As an opponent of suggestions to introduce the metric system in Uk, he qualified the nomenclature adopted in France as barbarous.

Examples [edit]

ane kilogram (kg) is yard grams
one kilometre (km) is grand metres
i kilojoule (kJ) is 1000 joules
one kilolitre (kL) is one thousand litres
one kilobaud (kBd) is 1000 baud
one kilohertz (kHz) is 1000 hertz
one kilobit (kb) is thou bits
ane kilobyte (kB) is thou bytes
i kiloohm is (kΩ) is 1000 ohms
one kilosecond (ks) is chiliad seconds
1 kilotonne (kt) is one thousand tonnes

Past extension, currencies are as well sometimes preceded by the prefix kilo-:

ane kiloeuro (k€) is 1000 euros
one kilodollar (thou$) is one thousand dollars

kilobyte [edit]

For the kilobyte, a second definition has been in common apply in some fields of computer scientific discipline and information engineering. It uses kilobyte to mean ii^ten bytes (= 1024 bytes), because of the mathematical coincidence that 2¹⁰ is approximately xⁱⁱⁱ. The reason for this application is that digital hardware and architectures natively apply base ii exponentiation, and not decimal systems. JEDEC memory standards still permit this definition, but acknowledge the right SI usage.

NIST comments on the confusion caused by these contrasting definitions: "Faced with this reality, the IEEE Standards Board decided that IEEE standards will use the conventional, internationally adopted, definitions of the SI prefixes", instead of kilo for 1024.^[3] To accost this disharmonize, a new set of binary prefixes has been introduced, which is based on powers of 2. Therefore, 1024 bytes are defined as one kibibyte (i KiB).

Exponentiation [edit]

When units occur in exponentiation, such as in square and cubic forms, any multiplier prefix is considered function of the unit of measurement, and thus included in the exponentiation.

1 km² ways 1 square kilometre or the expanse of a foursquare that measures 1000 chiliad on each side or 10^vi m² (as opposed to 1000 square meters, which is the area of a square that measures 31.half-dozen grand on each side).
ane km^three ways 1 cubic kilometre or the book of a cube that measures 1000 m on each side or 10⁹ thousand^three (as opposed to 1000 cubic meters, which is the book of a cube that measures ten thou on each side).

Encounter also [edit]

milli- (changed of kilo- prefix, denoting a gene of 1/chiliad)
kibi- (binary prefix, denoting a factor of 1024)
RKM lawmaking

References [edit]

^ Brewster, David (1832). The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia. Vol. 12 (1st American ed.). Joseph and Edward Parker. Retrieved 2015-10-09 .
^ Dingler, Johann Gottfried (1823). Polytechnisches Journal (in German language). Vol. 11. Stuttgart, Germany: J.Due west. Gotta'schen Buchhandlung. Retrieved 2015-10-09 .
^ Definition of binary prefixes at NIST

SI prefixes

v

t

due east
Prefix		Base of operations 10	Decimal	English discussion		Adoption^{[nb one]}
Name	Symbol	Base of operations 10	Decimal	Short scale	Long scale	Adoption^{[nb one]}
yotta	Y	10²⁴	1000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000	septillion	quadrillion	1991
zetta	Z	x²¹	one000 000 000 000 000 000 000	sextillion	trilliard	1991
exa	E	10¹⁸	1000 000 000 000 000 000	quintillion	trillion	1975
peta	P	ten^xv	1000 000 000 000 000	quadrillion	billiard	1975
tera	T	10¹²	1000 000 000 000	trillion	billion	1960
giga	G	x⁹	1000 000 000	billion	milliard	1960
mega	M	10⁶	1000 000	1000000		1873
kilo	k	10ⁱⁱⁱ	i000	yard		1795
hecto	h	x²	100	hundred		1795
deca	da	10^one	10	ten		1795
		10⁰	i	one		–
deci	d	10⁻¹	0.1	tenth		1795
centi	c	ten⁻²	0.01	hundredth		1795
milli	thousand	x⁻³	0.001	thousandth		1795
micro	μ	10⁻⁶	0.000001	millionth		1873
nano	n	10^−ix	0.000000 001	billionth	milliardth	1960
pico	p	10⁻¹²	0.000000 000 001	trillionth	billionth	1960
femto	f	10⁻¹⁵	0.000000 000 000 001	quadrillionth	billiardth	1964
atto	a	10⁻¹⁸	0.000000 000 000 000 001	quintillionth	trillionth	1964
zepto	z	x⁻²¹	0.000000 000 000 000 000 001	sextillionth	trilliardth	1991
yocto	y	10⁻²⁴	0.000000 000 000 000 000 000 001	septillionth	quadrillionth	1991
^ Prefixes adopted earlier 1960 already existed earlier SI. The introduction of the CGS system was in 1873.