emps
2.2.4.A
EMPS
Extended Munafo Prefix System
" If BIPM decides to adopt further prefixes for 10^27 and 10^30 and their reciprocals 10^-27 and 10^-30, they will probably adopt something vaguely resembling names for nine and ten ... "
-- Robert P. Munafo
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Return to 2.2.4 - Sbiis Saibian's Extended Prefixes (2009)
PROPOSAL I : EXTENDED MUNAFO PREFIXES
A PRACTICAL APPROACH
Note that I did ask permission to suggest an extension to Munafo's prefixes in an email. Munafo did not seem to mind one way or the other, and considered the excersize impractical. None the less, I wish to present an extension that I worked out based on the pattern clearly established by the Munafo Prefixes.
Recall that Munafo said that if the BIPM did accept new prefixes they would probably be something along the lines of : novetta , novemo , decetta, and decemo. He also suggested the prefix symbols "No-" , "no-" , "De-", and "de-" respectively. The prefixes are clearly derived from the latin words for 9 and 10, namely "novem" and "decem".
A practical approach to extending the SI system, would be to find a simple way to adapt number words into prefixes. This is exactly what Munafo's prefixes do with latin numbers. The logical way to extend this system is therefore to use a simple adaption scheme. I have done this, and I have also come up with a practical way to devise prefix symbols for it. Unfortunately I can't really take credit for this idea. Munafo clearly meant for the system to be extended in this manner provided it was neccessary. For this reason I say the credit for this system should really be given to Robert P. Munafo. The table that follows presents the prefixes , and symbols I have devised based on Munafo's scheme along with the BIPM prefixes [1]...
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EXTENDED MUNAFO PREFIX SYSTEM (EMPS)
Note : Prefixes in red are already BIPM certified.
PREFIX SYMBOL VALUE ETYMOLOGY
kilo- k- 10^3 greek : "thousand"
milli- m- 10^-3 latin : "thousandth"
mega- M- 10^6 greek : "big"
micro- µ- 10^-6 greek : "small"
giga- G- 10^9 greek : "giant"
nano- n- 10^-9 greek : "dwarf"
tera- T- 10^12 greek : "monster"
pico- p- 10^-12 spanish : "tiny bit"
peta- P- 10^15 greek : "five"
femto- f- 10^-15 Dano-Norwegian : "fifteen"
exa- E- 10^18 greek : "six"
atto- a- 10^-18 Dano-Norwegian : "eighteen"
zetta- Z- 10^21 latin : "seven"
zepto- z- 10^-21 latin : "seven"
yotta- Y- 10^24 latin : "eight"
yocto- y- 10^-24 latin : "eight"
novetta- No- 10^27 latin : "nine" (novem)
novemo- no- 10^-27 latin : "nine" (novem)
decetta- De- 10^30 latin : "ten" (decim)
decemo- de- 10^-30 latin : "ten" (decim)
undecetta- U- 10^33 latin : "11" (undecim)
undecemo- u- 10^-33 latin : "11" (undecim)
duodecetta- Du- 10^36 latin : "12" (duodecim)
duodecemo- du- 10^-36 latin : "12" (duodecim)
tredecetta- Tr- 10^39 latin : "13" (tredecim)
tredecemo- tr- 10^-39 latin : "13" (tredecim)
quattuordecetta- Q- 10^42 latin : "14" (quattuordecim)
quattuordecemo- q- 10^-42 latin : "14" (quattuordecim)
quindecetta- Qu- 10^45 latin : "15" (quindecim)
quindecemo- qu- 10^-45 latin : "15" (quindecim)
sexdecetta- S- 10^48 latin : "16" (sexdecim)
sexdecemo- s- 10^-48 latin : "16" (sexdecim)
septendecetta- Se- 10^51 latin : "17" (septendecim)
septendecemo- se- 10^-51 latin : "17" (septendecim)
octodecetta- Oc- 10^54 latin : "18" (octodecim)
octodecemo- oc- 10^-54 latin : "18" (octodecim)
novemdecetta- Nd- 10^57 latin : "19" (novemdecim)
novemdecemo- nd- 10^-57 latin : "19" (novemdecim)
vigintetta- V- 10^60 latin : "20" (viginti)
vigintemo- v- 10^-60 latin : "20" (viginti)
unvigintetta- Uv- 10^63 latin : "21" (unviginti)
unvigintemo- uv- 10^-63 latin : "21" (unviginti)
duovigintetta- Dv- 10^66 latin : "22" (duoviginti)
duovigintemo- dv- 10^-66 latin : "22" (duoviginti)
trevigintetta- Tv- 10^69 latin : "23" (treviginti)
trevigintemo- tv- 10^-69 latin : "23" (treviginti)
quattuorvigintetta- Qv- 10^72 latin : "24" (quattuorviginti)
quattuorvigintemo- qv- 10^-72 latin : "24" (quattuorviginti)
quinvigintetta- Quv- 10^75 latin : "25" (quinviginti)
quinvigintemo- quv- 10^-75 latin : "25" (quinviginti)
sexvigintetta- Sv- 10^78 latin : "26" (sexviginti)
sexvigintemo- sv- 10^-78 latin : "26" (sexviginti)
septenvigintetta- Spv- 10^81 latin : "27" (septenviginti)
septenvigintemo- spv- 10^-81 latin : "27" (septenviginti)
octovigintetta- Ov- 10^84 latin : "28" (octoviginti)
octovigintemo- ov- 10^-84 latin : "28" (octoviginti)
novemvigintetta- Nv- 10^87 latin : "29" (novemviginti)
novemvigintemo- nv- 10^-87 latin : "29" (novemviginti)
trigintetta- Tg- 10^90 latin : "30" (triginti)
trigintemo- tg- 10^-90 latin : "30" (triginti)
untrigintetta- Ut- 10^93 latin : "31" (untriginti)
untrigintemo- ut- 10^-93 latin : "31" (untriginti)
duotrigintetta- Dt- 10^96 latin : "32" (duotriginti)
duotrigintemo- dt- 10^-96 latin : "32" (duotriginti)
tretrigintetta- Tt- 10^99 latin : "33" (tretriginti)
tretrigintemo- tt- 10^-99 latin : "33" (tretriginti)
quattuortrigintetta- Qt- 10^102 latin : "34" (quattuortriginti)
quattuortrigintemo- qt- 10^-102 latin : "34" (quattuortriginti)
quintrigintetta- Qut- 10^105 latin : "35" (quintriginti)
quintrigintemo- qut- 10^-105 latin : "35" (quintriginti)
sextrigintetta- St- 10^108 latin : "36" (sextriginti)
sextrigintemo- st- 10^-108 latin : "36" (sextriginti)
septentrigintetta- Spt- 10^111 latin : "37" (septentriginti)
septentrigintemo- spt- 10^-111 latin : "37" (septentriginti)
octotrigintetta- Ot- 10^114 latin : "38" (octotriginti)
octotrigintemo- ot- 10^-114 latin : "38" (octotriginti)
novemtrigintetta- Nt- 10^117 latin : "39" (novemtriginti)
novemtrigintemo- nt- 10^-117 latin : "39" (novemtriginti)
quadragintetta- Qg- 10^120 latin : "40" (quadraginti)
quadragintemo- qg- 10^-120 latin : "40" (quadraginti)
unquadragintetta- Uq- 10^123 latin : "41" (unquadraginti)
unquadragintemo- uq- 10^-123 latin : "41" (unquadraginti)
duoquadragintetta- Dq- 10^126 latin : "42" (duoquadraginti)
duoquadragintemo- dq- 10^-126 latin : "42" (duoquadraginti)
trequadragintetta- Tq- 10^129 latin : "43" (trequadraginti)
trequadragintemo- tq- 10^-129 latin : "43" (trequadraginti)
quattuorquadragintetta- Qq- 10^132 latin : "44" (quattuorquadraginti)
quattuorquadragintemo- qq- 10^-132 latin : "44" (quattuorquadraginti)
quinquadragintetta- Quq- 10^135 latin : "45" (quinquadraginti)
quinquadragintemo- quq- 10^-135 latin : "45" (quinquadraginti)
sexquadragintetta- Sq- 10^138 latin : "46" (sexquadraginti)
sexquadragintemo- sq- 10^-138 latin : "46" (sexquadraginti)
septenquadragintetta- Spq- 10^141 latin : "47" (septenquadraginti)
septenquadragintemo- spq- 10^-141 latin : "47" (septenquadraginti)
octoquadragintetta- Oq- 10^144 latin : "48" (octoquadraginti)
octoquadragintemo- oq- 10^-144 latin : "48" (octoquadraginti)
novemquadragintetta- Nq- 10^147 latin : "49" (novemquadraginti)
novemquadragintemo- nq- 10^-147 latin : "49" (novemquadraginti)
quinquagintetta- Qug- 10^150 latin : "50" (quinquaginti)
quinquagintemo- Qug- 10^-150 latin : "50" (quinquaginti)
unquinquagintetta- Uqu- 10^153 latin : "51" (unquinquaginti)
unquinquagintemo- uqu- 10^-153 latin : "51" (unquinquaginti)
duoquinquagintetta- Dqu- 10^156 latin : "52" (duoquinquaginti)
duoquinquagintemo- dqu- 10^-156 latin : "52" (duoquinquaginti)
trequinquagintetta- Tqu- 10^159 latin : "53" (trequinquaginti)
trequinquagintemo- tqu- 10^-159 latin : "53" (trequinquaginti)
quattuorquinquagintetta- Qqu- 10^162 latin : "54" (quattuorquinquaginti)
quattuorquinquagintemo- qqu- 10^-162 latin : "54" (quattuorquinquaginti)
quinquinquagintetta- Quu- 10^165 latin : "55" (quinquinquaginti)
quinquinquagintemo- quu- 10^-165 latin : "55" (quinquinquaginti)
sexquinquagintetta- Squ- 10^168 latin : "56" (sexquinquaginti)
sexquinquagintemo- squ- 10^-168 latin : "56" (sexquinquaginti)
septenquinquagintetta- Spu- 10^171 latin : "57" (septenquinquaginti)
septenquinquagintemo- spu- 10^-171 latin : "57" (septenquinquaginti)
octoquinquagintetta- Oqu- 10^174 latin : "58" (octoquinquaginti)
octoquinquagintemo- oqu- 10^-174 latin : "58" (octoquinquaginti)
novemquinquagintetta- Nqu- 10^177 latin : "59" (novemquinquaginti)
novemquinquagintemo- nqu- 10^-177 latin : "59" (novemquinquaginti)
sexagintetta- Sg- 10^180 latin : "60" (sexaginti)
sexagintemo- sg- 10^-180 latin : "60" (sexaginti)
unsexagintetta- Us- 10^183 latin : "61" (unsexaginti)
unsexagintemo- us- 10^-183 latin : "61" (unsexaginti)
duosexagintetta- Ds- 10^186 latin : "62" (duosexaginti)
duosexagintemo- ds- 10^-186 latin : "62" (duosexaginti)
tresexagintetta- Ts- 10^189 latin : "63" (tresexaginti)
tresexagintemo- ts- 10^-189 latin : "63" (tresexaginti)
quattuorsexagintetta- Qs- 10^192 latin : "64" (quattuorsexaginti)
quattuorsexagintemo- qs- 10^-192 latin : "64" (quattuorsexaginti)
quinsexagintetta- Qus- 10^195 latin : "65" (quinsexaginti)
quinsexagintemo- qus- 10^-195 latin : "65" (quinsexaginti)
sexsexagintetta- Ss- 10^198 latin : "66" (sexsexaginti)
sexsexagintemo- ss- 10^-198 latin : "66" (sexsexaginti)
septensexagintetta- Sps- 10^201 latin : "67" (septensexaginti)
septensexagintemo- sps- 10^-201 latin : "67" (septensexaginti)
octosexagintetta- Os- 10^204 latin : "68" (octosexaginti)
octosexagintemo- os- 10^-204 latin : "68" (octosexaginti)
novemsexagintetta- Ns- 10^207 latin : "69" (novemsexaginti)
novemsexagintemo- ns- 10^-207 latin : "69" (novemsexaginti)
septuagintetta- Spg- 10^210 latin : "70" (septuaginti)
septuagintemo- spg- 10^-210 latin : "70" (septuaginti)
unseptuagintetta- Usp- 10^213 latin : "71" (unseptuaginti)
unseptuagintemo- usp- 10^-213 latin : "71" (unseptuaginti)
duoseptuagintetta- Dsp- 10^216 latin : "72" (duoseptuaginti)
duoseptuagintemo- dsp- 10^-216 latin : "72" (duoseptuaginti)
treseptuagintetta- Tsp- 10^219 latin : "73" (treseptuaginti)
treseptuagintemo- tsp- 10^-219 latin : "73" (treseptuaginti)
quattuorseptuagintetta- Qsp- 10^222 latin : "74" (quattuorseptuaginti)
quattuorseptuagintemo- qsp- 10^-222 latin : "74" (quattuorseptuaginti)
quinseptuagintetta- Qup- 10^225 latin : "75" (quinseptuaginti)
quinseptuagintemo- qup- 10^-225 latin : "75" (quinseptuaginti)
sexseptuagintetta- Ssp- 10^228 latin : "76" (sexseptuaginti)
sexseptuagintemo- ssp- 10^-228 latin : "76" (sexseptuaginti)
septenseptuagintetta- Spp- 10^231 latin : "77" (septenseptuaginti)
septenseptuagintemo- spp- 10^-231 latin : "77" (septenseptuaginti)
octoseptuagintetta- Osp- 10^234 latin : "78" (octoseptuaginti)
octoseptuagintemo- osp- 10^-234 latin : "78" (octoseptuaginti)
novemseptuagintetta- Nsp- 10^237 latin : "79" (novemseptuaginti)
novemseptuagintemo- nsp- 10^-237 latin : "79" (novemseptuaginti)
octogintetta- Og- 10^240 latin : "80" (octoginti)
octogintemo- og- 10^-240 latin : "80" (octoginti)
unoctogintetta- Uo- 10^243 latin : "81" (unoctoginti)
unoctogintemo- uo- 10^-243 latin : "81" (unoctoginti)
duooctogintetta- Do- 10^246 latin : "82" (duooctoginti)
duooctogintemo- do- 10^-246 latin : "82" (duooctoginti)
treoctogintetta- To- 10^249 latin : "83" (treoctoginti)
treoctogintemo- to- 10^-249 latin : "83" (treoctoginti)
quattuoroctogintetta- Qo- 10^252 latin : "84" (quattuoroctoginti)
quattuoroctogintemo- qo- 10^-252 latin : "84" (quattuoroctoginti)
quinoctogintetta- Quo- 10^255 latin : "85" (quinoctoginti)
quinoctogintemo- quo- 10^-255 latin : "85" (quinoctoginti)
sexoctogintetta- So- 10^258 latin : "86" (sexoctoginti)
sexoctogintemo- so- 10^-258 latin : "86" (sexoctoginti)
septenoctogintetta- Spo- 10^261 latin : "87" (septenoctoginti)
septenoctogintemo- spo- 10^-261 latin : "87" (septenoctoginti)
octooctogintetta- Oo- 10^264 latin : "88" (octooctoginti)
octooctogintemo- oo- 10^-264 latin : "88" (octooctoginti)
novemoctogintetta- Noo- 10^267 latin : "89" (novemoctoginti)
novemoctogintemo- noo- 10^-267 latin : "89" (novemoctoginti)
nonagintetta- Ng- 10^270 latin : "90" (nonaginti)
nonagintemo- ng- 10^-270 latin : "90" (nonaginti)
unnonagintetta- Un- 10^273 latin : "91" (unnonaginti)
unnonagintemo- un- 10^-273 latin : "91" (unnonaginti)
duononagintetta- Dn- 10^276 latin : "92" (duononaginti)
duononagintemo- dn- 10^-276 latin : "92" (duononaginti)
trenonagintetta- Tn- 10^279 latin : "93" (trenonaginti)
trenonagintemo- tn- 10^-279 latin : "93" (trenonaginti)
quattuornonagintetta- Qn- 10^282 latin : "94" (quattuornonaginti)
quattuornonagintemo- qn- 10^-282 latin : "94" (quattuornonaginti)
quinnonagintetta- Qun- 10^285 latin : "95" (quinnonaginti)
quinnonagintemo- qun- 10^-285 latin : "95" (quinnonaginti)
sexnonagintetta- Sn- 10^288 latin : "96" (sexnonaginti)
sexnonagintemo- sn- 10^-288 latin : "96" (sexnonaginti)
septennonagintetta- Spn- 10^291 latin : "97" (septennonaginti)
septennonagintemo- spn- 10^-291 latin : "97" (septennonaginti)
octononagintetta- On- 10^294 latin : "98" (octononaginti)
octononagintemo- on- 10^-294 latin : "98" (octononaginti)
novemnonagintetta- Nn- 10^297 latin : "99" (novemnonaginti)
novemnonagintemo- nn- 10^-297 latin : "99" (novemnonaginti)
centetta- Ce- 10^300 latin : "100" (centum)
centemo- ce- 10^-300 latin : "100" (centum)
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You may notice that the roots of these terms are identical to those used for the -illion series. This is because they are derived from the same latin numbers. At 200 prefixes I'm able to pick prefix symbols of 3 symbols or less. I could of coarse continue with the latin to uncentetta, duocentetta, etc. and eventually reach as far as milletta- (10^3000) and millemo- (10^-3000), but the prefix symbols would become obtuse. Ideally I don't like prefix symbols to contain more than 3 letters.
Extending beyond 10^3000 would lead to some ambiguity. One could extend of coarse with unmilletta- , duomilletta- , etc. The problem is how to extend this in such a way to make the grouping clear. For example, what would 10^6000 be ? we could choose something like dumilletta-, but this is very close to duomilletta-. There also aren't many latin number words beyond 1000 (at least not in the ancient latin ). One further step might be to use the latin word "myria" which means 10,000. We could adapt it to form myriatta- (10^30,000) and myriamo- (10^-30,000).
Assuming we accept a grouping system we could get as far as the 999,999 pair of prefixes ... perhaps novemnonagintanoncentimillinovemnonagintanoncentetta- (10^2,999,997) and novemnonagintanoncentimillinovemnonagintanoncentemo- (10^-2,999,997).
For the time being however I think working the system up to the 100th pair of prefixes suffices. This system is already roughly 5 times longer than Jim Blowers system, and 3 times longer than H.Paul Shuch's. That makes this, to the best of my knowledge, the longest extension of the SI prefix system yet proposed.
The only problem of this system is that the EMPS prefixes are usually very long ! Take for example ... septenseptuagintetta- (10^231), and now compare it to something like exa- (10^18). There really are no catchy sounding prefixes above and below yotta- and yocto- in this system. Even Munafo's original prefixes, novetta- and decetta- each contain 7 letters, while the BIPM prefixes never exceed 5 letters. Still The EMP System works well as a default system. If you need a giant prefix and don't know what to use, you can always simply use one of those sprawling EMPS prefixes.
Another important issue to consider is the use of the prefix symbols. If you saw the term "Qusm" how would you interpret this. We can assume that the last letter is the base unit , m , for meters. The question is what is the prefix Qus- mean ? It doesn't make much sense to remember 200 prefix symbols, but if you look more carefully you'll see that a pattern is built into it to make it easier to remember. The first letter or 2 specifies the ones place value, while the ending letter specifies the tens place value. For example Qus- breaks up into Qu- and -s- . The Qu- stands for 5 while the -s- for 6, thus Qus- is the 65th large scale prefix. To find the power of ten the prefix represents simply multiply this number by 3, thus 10^(3*65) = 10^195. You can use the table above to check this. Thus 1 Qusm = 10^195 meters. The usefulness of this excersize is questionable, but it at least shows that it could be done. If such systems seem confusing and obtuse it's not because an effort hasn't been made to extend the BIPM system in a logical and simple way. Rather the difficulty lies in the fact that all such systems will inevitably become more complex and more difficult to work with as the range of expressibility increases. This is exactly what occurred when we tried to give unique names to all counting numbers. The system eventually became impractical. This phenomenon is not limited to this one example, it applies to any naming convention which attempts to label an endless sequence of items. Even counting in english has limitations (as we will learn in a later chapter).
The point is that at some point we have to stop. It is not possible to have a prefix name for every integer power of 1000. As ExNihilo says ...
" There's no need for an alternative, there simply is no recognised name for 10^27, just as there is no recognised name for 10^30, 10^33, or 10^30000 - there are an infinite number of powers of ten, do you think there are an infinite number of words to describe them? " -- ExNihilo
I couldn't have put it better myself.
So what alternatives are there to the EMP System ? See proposal II.
You can go back to the main article or you can jump to Proposal II directly ...
NEXT>> Proposal II - SEPS
Return to 2.2.4 - Sbiis Saibian's Extended Prefixes (2009)
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Footnotes:
[1] I have omitted the BIPM prefixes which are not whole powers of 1000.