Mega

Mega (symbol M) is a SI prefix in the SI system of units denoting a factor of 10⁶, i.e. one million; 1 000 000.

For example, 1 MW (megawatt) = 1 000 000 watts = 1 000 kilowatts.

Other common examples of usage:

• one megaton (a unit often used in measuring the explosive power of nuclear weapons) is 1,000,000 tons.
• Megahertz - frequency of electromagnetic radiation for radio and televion broadcasting, GSM, etc. 1 MHz = 1 000 000 Hz

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 an alternative for 2²⁰ to avoid ambiguity, but is yet to be widely used.

See also

• SI prefixes
• Binary prefix
• Mebibyte

External link

• BIPM website

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The prefix "mega-" (or "megalo-") also means "large", coming from a Greek word with that exact meaning. An example of a word with "mega" meaning large is Megalosaurus.

Mega is also the name of a town in Ethiopia