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How to Calculate Giga

The metric system uses a series of prefixes to denote the sizes of different units. Each prefix represents a different power of 10. For example, the metric prefix "giga" represents 10^9, or 1 billion, base units. This conversion remains the same no matter what quantity is being described. For example, 1 gigameter equals 1 billion meters in the same way that one gigasecond equals 1 billion seconds. To convert any unit to giga units, you need to know the value of the prefix used.

Things You'll Need

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Instructions

    • 1

      Divide the number of mega units by 1,000 to convert to giga units. For example, if you have 50,000 megatons, divide 50,000 by 1,000 to convert to 50 gigatons.

    • 2

      Multiply the number of kilo units by 0.000001 to convert to giga units. For example, if you have 9 million kilograms, multiply 9 million by 0.000001 to get 9 gigagrams.

    • 3

      Divide the number of base units by 1 billion to convert to giga units. For example, if you have 40 billion meters, divide 40 billion by 1 billion to get 40 gigameters.

    • 4

      Divide the number of centi units by 100 billion to convert to giga units. For example, if you have 560 billion centimeters, divide 560 billion by 100 billion to get 5.6 gigameters.

    • 5

      Divide the number of milli units by 1 trillion to convert to gigaunits. For example, if you have 3.4 trillion milliliters, divide 3.4 trillion by 1 trillion to get 3.4 gigaliters.

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