Thursday, November 10, 2005
By: Matthew Doucette
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." - William Shakespeare / Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)
Where Does "Xona" Come From?
"Xona" comes from one of the next proposed (and the most likely to be accepted) extension to the SI (International System of Units) prefixes. Specifically, Jim Blowers has proposed "xona‑" to be the next extension to the SI prefixes. Here is his page: Extended System of Units (web archive).
What is an SI Prefix?
Here are a few SI prefixes. Note that "weka‑", "xona‑", "xonto‑", and "wekto‑" are not (yet) a part of the SI prefixes. (Table borrowed and modified from Wikipedia's SI prefix article):
| 10n | Prefix | Symbol | Short scale | Long scale | Decimal equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1030 | weka ??? | W ??? | Nonillion | Quintillion | 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 |
| 1027 | xona ??? | X ??? | Octillion | Quadrilliard | 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 |
| 1024 | yotta | Y | Septillion | Quadrillion | 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 |
| 1021 | zetta | Z | Sextillion | Trilliard (thousand trillion) | 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 |
| 1018 | exa | E | Quintillion | Trillion | 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 |
| 1015 | peta | P | Quadrillion | Billiard (thousand billion) | 1 000 000 000 000 000 |
| 1012 | tera | T | Trillion | Billion | 1 000 000 000 000 |
| 109 | giga | G | Billion | Milliard (thousand million) | 1 000 000 000 |
| 106 | mega | M | Million | 1 000 000 | |
| 103 | kilo | k | Thousand | 1 000 | |
| 102 | hecto | h | Hundred | 100 | |
| 101 | deca, deka | da | Ten | 10 | |
| 100 | none | none | One | 1 | |
| 10−1 | deci | d | Tenth | 0.1 | |
| 10−2 | centi | c | Hundredth | 0.01 | |
| 10−3 | milli | m | Thousandth | 0.001 | |
| 10−6 | micro | µ (mu) (*) | Millionth | 0.000 001 | |
| 10−9 | nano | n | Billionth | Milliardth | 0.000 000 001 |
| 10−12 | pico | p | Trillionth | Billionth | 0.000 000 000 001 |
| 10−15 | femto | f | Quadrillionth | Billiardth | 0.000 000 000 000 001 |
| 10−18 | atto | a | Quintillionth | Trillionth | 0.000 000 000 000 000 001 |
| 10−21 | zepto | z | Sextillionth | Trilliardth | 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 001 |
| 10−24 | yocto | y | Septillionth | Quadrillionth | 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001 |
| 10−27 | xonto ??? | x ??? | Octillionth | Quadrilliardth | 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001 |
| 10−30 | wekto ??? | w ??? | Nonillionth | Quintillionth | 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001 |
Commonly used SI prefixes include "kilo‑" (=1,000) as in kilometer (1,000 meters.) The current largest valued prefix is "yotta‑" (=1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, equals one million billion billion, equals one Septillion, =10^24.)
"xona‑", if accepted, will be next prefix after "yotta‑". It will be 1,000 times larger than "yotta‑". If accepted, "xona‑" = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, equals one billion billion billion, equals one Octillion, =10^27.
Summary:
So, that's where "Xona.com" comes from!
"Xona" was important to us it two ways: Firstly, it is a proposed extension. It is something that currently does not exist, but hopefully will eventually. It is this relation to the future that is meaningful, considering we are related to technology and we are interested in our future growth. Secondly, it is a prefix, and, given our aspirations on developing many future projects, we wanted to have a name that could be easily used as a prefix. For example, Xona Forums, Xona Tech, Xona Ware, Xona Quotes, Xona Wallpapers, etc. "Xona.com", itself, is even using "Xona" as a prefix. It is like saying "Xona Dot-Com", where the "Dot-Com" represents our web presence as a whole.
More Information on SI Prefixes:
- Extended System of Units, proposal by Dr. James V. Blowers (Jim Blowers)
- SI prefix, Wikipedia's article
- SI (International System of Units), Wikipedia's article
- Non-SI unit prefix, Wikipedia's article
That is all.
About the Author: I am Matthew Doucette of Xona Games, an award-winning indie game studio that I founded with my twin brother. We make intensified arcade-style retro games. Our business, our games, our technology, and we as competitive gamers have won prestigious awards and received worldwide press. Our business has won $190,000 in contests. Our games have ranked from #1 in Canada to #1 in Japan, have become #1 best sellers in multiple countries, have won game contests, and have held 3 of the top 5 rated spots in Japan of all Xbox LIVE indie games. Our game engines have been awarded for technical excellence. And we, the developers, have placed #1 in competitive gaming competitions -- relating to the games we make. Read about our story, our awards, our games, and view our blog.