What is "peta-"

pre. In the International System of Units and other metric systems of units, multiplying the unit to which it is attached by 10¹⁵. Symbol: P

Peta is a decimal unit prefix in the metric system denoting multiplication by 10 . It was adopted as an SI prefix in the International System of Units in 1975, and has the symbol P.

Peta is derived from the Greek , meaning "five". It denotes the fifth power of 1000 (1000). It is similar to the prefix penta ("five"), but without the letter n (on the analogy of the prefix tera (from the Greek for "monster") for 1000 looking like tetra- ("four") with a letter missing).

Examples:

• 1 petametre = 10 metres
• 1 petasecond = 10 seconds (31.7 million years)
• 1 petabyte = 10 bytes
• the mass–energy equivalence is 89.9 PJ/kg
• 1 light-year = 9.461 Pm