New prefixes to add to the world’s largest and smallest numbers have been confirmed by a vote at the 27th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) in Versailles, France, on Friday 18 November 2022.
The International Committee for Weight and Measures (CIPM) is responsible for the International System of Units (the SI) and proposed changes or additions to the States party to the Metre Convention for consideration at the CGPM, that takes place at least every four years.
In November 2022 the CIPM presented a draft resolution to the Conference on the extension of the range of SI prefixes. The meeting unanimously adopted the resolution and decided to add to the list of SI prefixes to be used for multiples and submultiples of units the following prefixes:
Multiplying factor Name Symbol
1027 ronna R
10−27 ronto r
1030 quetta Q
10−30 quecto q
This change was necessitated by the increasing amount of data that requires measurement.
Dr Wynand Louw of NMISA, who serves as the current President of the CIPM, commented that the continual update of the International System of Units is of the utmost importance for the scientific world. “The 27th CGPM considered:
- The essential role of the International System of Units (SI) in providing confidence in the accuracy and global comparability of measurements needed for international trade, manufacturing, human health and safety, protection of the environment, global climate studies and scientific research,
- The benefits of encouraging the use of SI units by providing new SI prefixes for scientific communities that depend on measurements that are not covered by the current range,
- The needs of data science in the near future to express quantities of digital information expressed using orders of magnitude in excess of 1024,
- The importance of timely action to prevent unofficial prefix names being de facto adopted in other communities and adopted the resolution unanimously.
