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mega (symbol M) is an SI prefix
SI prefix

An SI prefix is a name or associated symbol that precedes a basic unit of measure to form a decimal multiple . The abbreviation SI is from the French language name Syst?me International d?Unit?s ....
 in the SI
Si

Si, si, or SI may refer to :...
 system of unit
Units of measurement

The definition, agreement and practical use of units of measurement have played a crucial role in human endeavour from early ages up to this day....
s denoting a factor of 106, 1,000,000 (one million
Million

One million , or one thousand 1000 , is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The name is derived from Italian, where mille was 1,000, and 1,000,000 became milione, "a large thousand"....
).

For example, 1 MW (megawatt) = 1,000,000 watt
WATT

WATT is a radio station broadcasting a News radio-Talk radio-Sports radio format. Licensed to Cadillac, Michigan, it first began broadcasting in 1945....
s = 1,000 kilowatts.

Confirmed in 1960, it comes from the Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 µ??a?, meaning great.








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mega (symbol M) is an SI prefix
SI prefix

An SI prefix is a name or associated symbol that precedes a basic unit of measure to form a decimal multiple . The abbreviation SI is from the French language name Syst?me International d?Unit?s ....
 in the SI
Si

Si, si, or SI may refer to :...
 system of unit
Units of measurement

The definition, agreement and practical use of units of measurement have played a crucial role in human endeavour from early ages up to this day....
s denoting a factor of 106, 1,000,000 (one million
Million

One million , or one thousand 1000 , is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The name is derived from Italian, where mille was 1,000, and 1,000,000 became milione, "a large thousand"....
).

For example, 1 MW (megawatt) = 1,000,000 watt
WATT

WATT is a radio station broadcasting a News radio-Talk radio-Sports radio format. Licensed to Cadillac, Michigan, it first began broadcasting in 1945....
s = 1,000 kilowatts.

Confirmed in 1960, it comes from the Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 µ??a?, meaning great.

Other common examples of usage

  • one megaton [of TNT] (a unit often used in measuring the explosive power of nuclear weapon
    Nuclear weapon

    A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion....
    s) is 1,000,000 tons of TNT.
  • megahertz—frequency of electromagnetic radiation
    Electromagnetic radiation

    Electromagnetic radiation takes the form of wave propagation waves in a vacuum or in matter. EM radiation has an electric field and magnetic field component which oscillate in phase perpendicular to each other and to the direction of energy Wave propagation....
     for radio and television broadcasting, GSM, etc. 1 MHz = 1,000,000 Hz
    Hertz

    The hertz is a measure of frequency per unit of time, or the number of list of cycles per second. It is the SI base unit of frequency in the International System of Units , and is used worldwide in both general-purpose and scientific contexts....
    .


Square and cubic forms

As the SI-prefixes take precedence over exponents,
  • 1 Mm2 means one square megametre
    Megametre

    A megametre is a Units of measurement of length in the metric system, equal to one million metres, the International System of Units SI base unit of length, hence to 1,000 Kilometre or approximately 621.37 miles....
     or the size of a square
    Square (geometry)

    In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular polygon with four equal sides and four equal angles . A square with vertices ABCD would be denoted ....
     of 1,000,000 m × 1,000,000 m or m2 (and not 1,000,000 × a square metre
    Square metre

    The square metre is the SI derived unit of area, with symbol m?. It is defined as the area of a square whose sides measure exactly one metre....
     or m²)
  • 1 Mm3 means one cubic megametre
    Megametre

    A megametre is a Units of measurement of length in the metric system, equal to one million metres, the International System of Units SI base unit of length, hence to 1,000 Kilometre or approximately 621.37 miles....
     or the size of a cube
    Cube

    A cube is a three-dimensional space solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each wikt:vertex. The cube can also be called a Regular polyhedron hexahedron and is one of the five Platonic solids....
     of 1,000,000 m × 1,000,000 m × 1,000,000 m or m2 (and not 1,000,000 × a cubic metre
    Cubic metre

    The cubic metre is the SI derived unit of volume. It is the volume of a cube with edges one metre in length. An alternative name, which allowed a different usage with SI prefix, was the st?re....
     or m3)


Computing

In computing
Computing

Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and developing computer technology, computer hardware and computer software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology....
, mega can sometimes denote 1,048,576 (220) of information units (example: a megabyte
Megabyte

Megabyte is a SI prefix-multiple of the unit byte for digital information computer storage or transmission and is equal to 106 bytes....
, 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.

See also

  • SI prefix
    SI prefix

    An SI prefix is a name or associated symbol that precedes a basic unit of measure to form a decimal multiple . The abbreviation SI is from the French language name Syst?me International d?Unit?s ....
  • Binary prefix
    Binary prefix

    In computing, a binary prefix is a set of letters that precede a unit of measure to indicate multiplication by a power of two. In certain contexts in computing, such as computer memory sizes, units of information storage and communication traffic have traditionally been reported in multiples of powers of two....
  • Mebibyte
    Mebibyte

    The Mebibyte is a standards-based binary prefix of the byte, a unit of Computer data storage. Mebibyte is abbreviated MiB.The unit prefix mebi was defined by the International Electrotechnical Commission in December 1998....
  • Orders of magnitude


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