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Kilo is a decimal unit prefix in the metric system denoting multiplication by one thousand (10 3). It is used in the International System of Units , where it has the symbol k , in lowercase . The prefix kilo is derived from the Greek word χίλιοι ( chilioi ), meaning "thousand".
The use of prefixes can be traced back to the introduction of the metric system in the 1790s, long before the 1960 introduction of the SI. [citation needed] The prefixes, including those introduced after 1960, are used with any metric unit, whether officially included in the SI or not (e.g., millidyne and milligauss). Metric prefixes may also ...
The SI prefix for a thousand units is "kilo-", abbreviated to "k"—for instance, a kilogram or "kg" is a thousand grams. This is sometimes extended to non-SI contexts, such as "ka" being used as a shorthand for periods of 1000 years. In computer science, however, "kilo-" is used more loosely to mean 2 to the 10th power (1024).
The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The International System of Units (SI) defines the prefix kilo as a multiplication factor of 1000 (10 3); therefore, one kilobyte is 1000 bytes. [1] The internationally recommended unit symbol for the kilobyte is kB. [1]
A unit prefix is a specifier or mnemonic that is added to the beginning of a unit of measurement to indicate multiples or fractions of the units. Units of various sizes are commonly formed by the use of such prefixes. The prefixes of the metric system, such as kilo and milli, represent multiplication by positive or negative powers of ten.
All units in the SI can be expressed in terms of the base units, and the base units serve as a preferred set for expressing or analysing the relationships between units. The choice of which and even how many quantities to use as base quantities is not fundamental or even unique – it is a matter of convention. [1]: 126
kyr was formerly common in some English language works, especially in geology and astronomy, for the unit of 1,000 years or millennium. The "k" is the unit prefix for kilo-or thousand with the suffix "yr" simply an abbreviation for "year". Occasionally, the "k" is shown in upper case, as in "100 Kyr"; this is an incorrect usage. "kyr" itself is ...
"The kelvin, symbol K, is the SI unit of thermodynamic temperature. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the Boltzmann constant k to be 1.380 649 × 10 −23 when expressed in the unit J K −1, which is equal to kg m 2 s −2 K −1, where the kilogram, metre and second are defined in terms of h, c and ∆ν Cs." [1]