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Metric measures are all based on units of ten. This table shows the various metric measurement prefixes found in the Metric System of Measurement.

Table of Metric Measurement Prefixes

Whole Number					Decimal (fractional) Numbers
Prefix	Abbreviation	Value				Prefix	Abbreviation	Value
yotta	Y	1024				deci	d	10-1
zetta	Z	1021				centi	c	10-2
exa	E	1018				milli	m	10-3
peta	P	1015				micro	m	10-6
tera	T	1012				nano	n	10-9
giga	G	109				pico	p	10-12
mega	M	106				femto	f	10-15
kilo	k	103				atto	a	10-18
hecto	h	102				zepto	z	10-21
deka	da	101				yocto	y	10-24
To determine how many zeros follow the first digit of a number, use the superscript number. That is, to determine what 106 equals, you would add six zeroes after the 1, or 1,000,000. For decimal (fractional) numbers, you place one zero less than the superscript number. That is, 10-3 equals 0.001 (one one-thousandth). Using these prefixes, one can determine that one kilogram is equal to 1,000 grams, and that 1 decigram equals 100 milligrams.