Updated on 2023-09-19

Typographic and editorial rules

Units and symbols

Estimated reading: 2 minutes

Use a nonbreaking space between figure and unit [see examples 1]

Exceptions: percentages, angles, feet and inches [see examples 2]

1

15 GW
28 °C

2

5%
53°
23’
10’’

Avoid unnecessarily large numbers or trailing zeroes: 4 m rather than 4 000 mm, 95 cm rather than 950 mmgo.iec.ch/iecsgfont

List of commonly used units and their symbols [non-exhaustive]

Unit	Symbol
millimetre	mm
centimetre	cm
metre	m
metre per second	m/s
kilometre	km
kilometre per hour	km/h
gram	g
kilogram	kg
ounce	oz
pound	lb
inch	in
foot	ft
yard	yd
mile	mi
second	s
minute	min
hour	h
byte (1)	B
kilobyte (1000)	kB
megabites(1000²)	MB
gigabyte (1000³)	GB
terabyte (1000⁴)	TB
petabyte (1000⁵)	PB
exabyte (1000⁶)	EB
zettabyte (1000⁷)	ZB
yottabyte (1000⁸)	YB
kibibyte (1024)	KiB
mebibyte (1024²)	MiB
gibibyte (1024³)	GiB
tebibyte (1024⁴)	TiB
pebibyte (1024⁵)	PiB
exbibyte (1024⁶)	EiB
zebibyte (1024⁷)	ZiB
yobibyte (1024⁸)	YiB
joule	J
ohm	Ω
volt	V
watt	W
kilowatt	kW
megawatt	MW
hertz	Hz
ampere	A
degree Celsius	ºC
degree Farenheit	ºF
kelvin	K
millilitre	ml
litre	l
pint	pi
gallon	gal
fluid ounce	gl. Oz
tonne	t
micro	µ
nano	n
tera	T
giga	G
mega	M
million	m
billion [see note 2]	bn

1

See IEC 80000-6 and www.iec.ch/si

2

Billion has two distinct definitions depending on where you live: 10⁹ (short numeric scale) or 10¹² (long numeric scale), go.iec.ch/iecsgbillion

These rules do not apply to reports issued in their entirety by the Finance and Accounting department