Mega- Explained

Mega is a unit prefix in metric systems of units denoting a factor of one million (106 or ). It has the unit symbol M. It was confirmed for use in the International System of Units (SI) in 1960. Mega comes from Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: μέγας|mégas|great.[1]

Common examples of usage

Exponentiation

When units occur in exponentiation, such as in square and cubic forms, any multiples-prefix is considered part of the unit, and thus included in the exponentiation.

Computing

In some fields of computing, mega may sometimes denote (220) information units, for example, a megabyte, a megaword, but denotes (106) units of other quantities, for example, transfer rates: = . In the case of 3½-inch floppy disks, sizes were given in megabytes of 1000KB or bits.[2] The prefix mebi- has been suggested as a prefix for 220 to avoid ambiguity.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Oxford English Dictionary (OED Online). June 2001. www.oed.com. Oxford University Press. en. 2017-09-18. Origin: A borrowing from Greek. Etymon: Greek μεγα-. ... Forming scientific and technical terms with the sense 'very large', 'comparatively large', or (esp. in Pathol.) 'abnormally large', often having correlatives beginning micro-, and sometimes also synonyms beginning macro-.. subscription . 3rd.
  2. Web site: Megabyte . Wolfram MathWorld . 17 June 2024.