UNITS OF MEASUREMENT AND

SYMBOLS
In Electricity and Electronics we use
the International System of Units
(abbreviated SI from the French Le

Systme International d'Units). It

has seven base units as follows.
Name Unit Quantity
Symbo
Symbol
Meter
M
length
l
kilogram kg
mass
m
second S
time
t

ampere A
kelvin K
candela Cd
Mole

mol

current
I
thermodynamic T
temperature
luminous
Iv
intensity
amount of
n
substance

Other units can be obtained with the

help of decimal prefixes as follows, e.g.
mA (milliamp).
Prefix SymbolsMultiplication Factor
18
Exa E
10
15
Peta P
10
12
Tera T
10 = 1000000000000

Giga
Mega
Kilo
Milli
Micro
Nano
Pico

G
M
k
m

n
p

10 = 1000000000
6
10 = 1000000
3
10 = 1000
-3
10 = 0.001
-6
10 = 0.000001
-9
10 = 0.000000001
-12
10 = 0.000000000001

Femto f
Atto a

-15

10
-18
10

Standard Form or Scientific Notation

Scientific Notation or
Standard Form is a way of
writing numbers

in a compact form.
A number written in Scientific
Notation is written in the form:
n
b x 10
b is a number from 1 to less
than 10

 n is an integer (not a fractional or

decimal component)
To write a number in Scientific
Notation:
Step1: Locate/Create the point.
Step2: Move point to left or
right.

Step3: Create # more than 1

but less than 10.
Step4: Write answer x10
Step5: Write power of 10
according to times point
was moved.

The power of 10 is:

-- positive if point is moved to
the left OR original number is
greater than one (1)
-- negative if point is moved
to the right OR original
number is less than one (1).

Examples
1.Write 5630 in Scientific
Notation.
5.630 x 10 or 5.63 x 10
3

2.Write 0.00725 in
Scientific Notation.
7.25 x 10

-3

Always check your answer;

- If the number is less than

one, then the power of 10
is negative.
- If the number is greater
than or equal to 10 then
the power of 10 is positive.

Examples
1. Write 1635 000 000 in standard
form.
2. Write 0.4 in standard form.
3. Write 0.000 0045 in standard form.

Exercise 1 Write the following

numbers in standard form.
(a) 53800
(b) 145 000 000
(c) 0.761
(d) 0.000534
(e) 0.0028
(f) 9620
(g) 0.34820
(h) 0.6

Engineering Notation
Engineering Notation is similar
to scientific notation. In
engineering notation the powers
of ten are multiples of 3.

A number written in
Engineering Notation is written
in the form:
n
b x 10
b is a number from 1 to less
than 1000
n is a multiple of three

To write a number in engineering

notation:
Step1: Locate/Create the point
Step2: Shift the point in groups
of three

Step3: Create a number between

1 and 1000
Step4: Write answer x 10
Step5: Write power 10 equal to
the number of times point
was moved.

Step6: Exchange the (x 10 ) with

the correct prefix. Eg.
3
1x10 W = 1 kW
The power of 10 is:
-- positive if point is moved to
the left

-- negative if point is moved

to the right.
Examples
4. Write 1635 000 000 in engineering
notation.

5. Write 0.4 in engineering notation.

6. Write 0.000 0045 in engineering
notation.
Exercise 2 Write the following
numbers in Engineering notation.
(a) 53800
(b) 145 000 000

(c) 0.761
(e) 0.0028
(g) 0.34820

(d) 0.000534
(f) 9620
(h) 0.6

Engineering Notation and S.I.

Units.

Engineering Notation is used to

express physical quantities in
terms of the basic S.I. units and a
preferred prefix. The preferred
prefixes all have powers that are
a multiple of three.

Examples
1. Write the following in S.I
Units using a preferred prefix:
(a) 6000m
3
6000m = 6 10 m = 6 km

(b) 0.005V
-3
0.005V = 5 10 V = 5mV
(c) 0.000 3s
-6
0.000 3s = 300 10 s = 300 s

USE OF CALCULATOR
Use a scientific calculator to
solve the following:
1.(3.5 x10 ) x (1.02
5

x10 )
8

2.(5.38 x10 ) x (53.8

4

x10 )
3

3.(1.45 x10 ) (145

-8

x10 )
-6

4.(7.61 x10 ) x (761

-1

x10 )
-3

5.(5.34 x10 ) + (534

-4

x10 )
-6

6.(2.8 x10 ) - (2.8 x10 )

-3

-3

7.(9.62 x10 ) (9.62

3

x10 )
3

8.(3.482 x10 ) x (348.2

-1

x10 )
-3

9.(6.0 x10 ) + (600 x10

-1