Unit prefixing

A unit prefix is a specifier that is appended 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. As with number formatting, this can simplify the information visualized and make numbers easier to interpret. The indicator in the following image has unit prefixing enabled:

Indicator with 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). You can change the symbol used for a unit prefix in the dashboard settings.

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