A unit prefix is a specifier or mnemonic that is prepended to units of measurement to indicate a multiple or a fraction of a unit, such as kilo for thousand. When unit prefixing is enabled in Dashboards, symbols of unit prefixes, such as k for kilo, are used to abbreviate numbers. Like number formatting, this can simplify the information presented and make a number easier to interpret. The indicator in the following image has unit prefixing enabled:
Dashboards performs unit prefixing using standard metric prefix symbols. These represent multiplication by powers of 10. For example, the prefix kilo can be added to meter to indicate multiplication by 1,000 (1 kilometer is equal to 1,000 meters). Likewise, the prefix milli can be added to second to indicate division by 1,000 (1 millisecond is equal to 1/1000 of a second). The following tables outline how symbol prefixes can be applied to both large and small numbers in a dashboard.
Prefixes for large numbers
Prefix | Symbol | Multiplier | Exponent |
---|---|---|---|
yotta | Y | 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 | 1024 |
zetta | Z | 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 | 1021 |
exa | E | 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 | 1018 |
peta | P | 1,000,000,000,000,000 | 1015 |
tera | T | 1,000,000,000,000 | 1012 |
giga | G | 1,000,000,000 | 109 |
mega | M | 1,000,000 | 106 |
kilo | k | 1,000 | 103 |
Prefixes for small numbers
Prefix | Symbol | Multiplier | Exponent |
---|---|---|---|
deci | d | 0.1 | 10-1 |
centi | c | 0.01 | 10-2 |
milli | m | 0.001 | 10-3 |
micro | ยต | 0.000001 | 10-6 |
nano | n | 0.000000001 | 10-9 |
Tip:
The symbol used for a unit prefix can be changed through dashboard-level settings. For example, the symbol for giga could be changed to "B" to indicate billion.