A centimeter (cm) is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to 0,01 meter, which is the SI base unit of length. Centi is the SI prefix for a factor of 10−2. Hence a centimeter can be written as 10×10−3 m (engineering notation) or 1E−2 m (scientific E notation) — meaning 10 mm or 1 m/100 respectively. The centimeter is the base unit of length in the now deprecated centimeter-gram-second (CGS) system of units.