What is the purpose of the prefixes in the metric system?

Solution:

Prefixes are the short abbreviations used to describe the measuring units in short.

A metric system is a decimal measuring system that is based upon meter, liter, and gram which are used to measure length, volume, and mass respectively. It is been used by most countries around the globe. The United States is amongst the few countries which still use the imperial system of measurement where things are measured in feet, inches, pounds, ounces, etc.

Purpose of prefixes in the metric system.

The metric system has been adopted by the major part of the world (except countries like the U.S.) and uses one fundamental unit for each different quantity. Prefixes are appended to the fundamental unit for both cases of very large or very small numbers. For example, 1,000 meters is more easily expressed as 1 kilometer. Conversely, 0.001 grams is more easily expressed as 1 milligram.

Some of the common prefixes are 'kilo-', 'mega-', 'milli-', etc.

The one-letter abbreviations for the prefixes are case-sensitive. For example, capital "M" is the abbreviation used for mega-, while lowercase "m" is the abbreviation used for milli-.

Therefore, the use of prefixes in the metric system is to give specific abbreviations to various quantities named in it.

What is the purpose of the prefixes in the metric system?

Summary:

The use of prefixes in the metric system is to give specific abbreviations to various quantities named in it.