This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Mega- is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
Mega- (symbol M) is an SI prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 106, 1,000,000 (one million).
For example, 1 MW (megawatt) = 1,000,000 watts = 1,000 kilowatts.
Confirmed in 1960, it comes from the Greek μέγας, meaning great.1
Contents |
Other common examples of usage
- one megaton [of TNT] (a unit often used in measuring the explosive power of nuclear weapons) is 1,000,000 tons of TNT.
- megahertz—frequency of electromagnetic radiation for radio and television broadcasting, GSM, etc. 1 MHz = 1,000,000 Hz.
Square and cubic forms
As the SI-prefixes take precedence over exponents,
- 1 Mm2 means one square megametre or the size of a square of 1,000,000 m × 1,000,000 m or 1012 m2 (and not 1,000,000 × a square metre or 106 m²)
- 1 Mm3 means one cubic megametre or the size of a cube of 1,000,000 m × 1,000,000 m × 1,000,000 m or 1018 m2 (and not 1,000,000 × a cubic metre or 106 m3)
Computing
In computing, mega- can sometimes denote 1,048,576 (220) of information units (example: a megabyte, a megaword), but can denote 1,000,000 (106) of other quantities, for example, transfer rates: 1 megabit/s = 1,000,000 bit/s.
The prefix mebi- has been suggested as a prefix for 220 to avoid ambiguity, but is yet to be widely used.
| 1000m | 10n | Prefix | Symbol | Since[1] | Short scale | Long scale | Decimal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10008 | 1024 | yotta- | Y | 1991 | Septillion | Quadrillion | 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 |
| 10007 | 1021 | zetta- | Z | 1991 | Sextillion | Trilliard | 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 |
| 10006 | 1018 | exa- | E | 1975 | Quintillion | Trillion | 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 |
| 10005 | 1015 | peta- | P | 1975 | Quadrillion | Billiard | 1 000 000 000 000 000 |
| 10004 | 1012 | tera- | T | 1960 | Trillion | Billion | 1 000 000 000 000 |
| 10003 | 109 | giga- | G | 1960 | Billion | Milliard | 1 000 000 000 |
| 10002 | 106 | mega- | M | 1960 | Million | 1 000 000 | |
| 10001 | 103 | kilo- | k | 1795 | Thousand | 1 000 | |
| 10002/3 | 102 | hecto- | h | 1795 | Hundred | 100 | |
| 10001/3 | 101 | deca- | da | 1795 | Ten | 10 | |
| 10000 | 100 | (none) | (none) | NA | One | 1 | |
| 1000−1/3 | 10−1 | deci- | d | 1795 | Tenth | 0.1 | |
| 1000−2/3 | 10−2 | centi- | c | 1795 | Hundredth | 0.01 | |
| 1000−1 | 10−3 | milli- | m | 1795 | Thousandth | 0.001 | |
| 1000−2 | 10−6 | micro- | µ | 1960[2] | Millionth | 0.000 001 | |
| 1000−3 | 10−9 | nano- | n | 1960 | Billionth | Milliardth | 0.000 000 001 |
| 1000−4 | 10−12 | pico- | p | 1960 | Trillionth | Billionth | 0.000 000 000 001 |
| 1000−5 | 10−15 | femto- | f | 1964 | Quadrillionth | Billiardth | 0.000 000 000 000 001 |
| 1000−6 | 10−18 | atto- | a | 1964 | Quintillionth | Trillionth | 0.000 000 000 000 000 001 |
| 1000−7 | 10−21 | zepto- | z | 1991 | Sextillionth | Trilliardth | 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 001 |
| 1000−8 | 10−24 | yocto- | y | 1991 | Septillionth | Quadrillionth | 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001 |
See also
References
External links
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 22 November 2008, at 10:14.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Mega-".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.