Powers of 10
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In mathematics, a power of 10 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:
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Positive powers [edit]
| 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 |
| Ten Thousand | 4 | 10,000 | ||
| Hundred Thousand | 5 | 100,000 | ||
| 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 (Trillion) | 18 | 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 | E | exa |
| Sextillion | 21 | 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 | Z | zetta |
| Septillion (Quadrillion) | 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.
Negative powers [edit]
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 |
| Ten Thousandth | −4 | 0.000 1 | ||
| Hundred Thousandth | −5 | 0.000 01 | ||
| 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 |
Googol [edit]
The number googol is 10100
The term was coined in 1938 by 9-year-old Milton Sirotta, nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner. Popularized by his 1940 book Mathematics and the Imagination, it was used to compare and illustrate really large numbers.
Googolplex, a much larger power of ten, was also introduced in that book.
Scientific notation [edit]
Scientific notation is a way of writing numbers of very large and very small sizes compactly when precision is less important.
A number written in scientific notation has a mantissa multiplied by a power of ten.
Sometimes written in the form:
a x 10b
Or more compactly as:
aEb
