A decimetre is a unit

Units of measurement

A unit of measurement is a definite magnitude of a physical quantity, defined and adopted by convention and/or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same physical quantity. Any other value of the physical quantity can be expressed as a simple multiple of the unit of...

 of length

Length

In geometric measurements, length most commonly refers to the longest dimension of an object.In certain contexts, the term "length" is reserved for a certain dimension of an object along which the length is measured. For example it is possible to cut a length of a wire which is shorter than wire...

 in the metric system

Metric system

The metric system is an international decimalised system of measurement. France was first to adopt a metric system, in 1799, and a metric system is now the official system of measurement, used in almost every country in the world...

, equal to one tenth of a metre

Metre

The metre , symbol m, is the base unit of length in the International System of Units . Originally intended to be one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole , its definition has been periodically refined to reflect growing knowledge of metrology...

, the SI

International System of Units

The International System of Units is the modern form of the metric system and is generally a system of units of measurement devised around seven base units and the convenience of the number ten. The older metric system included several groups of units...

 base unit

SI base unit

The International System of Units defines seven units of measure as a basic set from which all other SI units are derived. These SI base units and their physical quantities are:* metre for length...

 of length. In simple words there are 10 cm in a decimetre.
It can be written in scientific notation

Scientific notation

Scientific notation is a way of writing numbers that are too large or too small to be conveniently written in standard decimal notation. Scientific notation has a number of useful properties and is commonly used in calculators and by scientists, mathematicians, doctors, and engineers.In scientific...

s as 100×10⁻³ m (engineering notation) or (exponential notation) — meaning or respectively. The c is pronounced as /s/, unlike in decametre

Decametre

A decametre or dekametre is a very rarely used unit of length in the metric system, equal to ten metres, the SI base unit of length. It can be written in scientific notation as , meaning .This measure is included mostly for completeness...

. The non-SI unit for volume, the litre

Litre

pic|200px|right|thumb|One litre is equivalent to this cubeEach side is 10 cm1 litre water = 1 kilogram water The litre is a metric system unit of volume equal to 1 cubic decimetre , to 1,000 cubic centimetres , and to 1/1,000 cubic metre...

, is defined as one cubic decimetre (other than between 1901 and 1964 where there was a slight difference between the two).

See also

• SI
  Si
  Si, si, or SI may refer to :- Measurement, mathematics and science :* International System of Units , the modern international standard version of the metric system...
  
  
• SI prefix
  SI prefix
  The International System of Units specifies a set of unit prefixes known as SI prefixes or metric prefixes. An SI prefix is a name that precedes a basic unit of measure to indicate a decadic multiple or fraction of the unit. Each prefix has a unique symbol that is prepended to the unit symbol...
  
  
• deci-
  Deci
  Deci is a prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of one tenth. Adopted in 1795, the prefix comes from the Latin decimus, meaning tenth. Its most frequent use is in the non-SI unit, the decibel, used to measure sound intensity and many other ratios....
  
  
• Metric system
  Metric system
  The metric system is an international decimalised system of measurement. France was first to adopt a metric system, in 1799, and a metric system is now the official system of measurement, used in almost every country in the world...
  
  
• 1 E-1 m
  1 E-1 m
  To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths between 10 centimetres and 100 centimetres .Distances shorter than 10 centimetres-Conversions:10 centimetres is equal to...
  
   and Orders of magnitude (length)
• Conversion of units
  Conversion of units
  Conversion of units is the conversion between different units of measurement for the same quantity, typically through multiplicative conversion factors.- Process :...
  
  , for comparison with other units of length.