What is the prefix, symbol, and meaning of Mega?

What is the prefix, symbol, and meaning of Mega?

• A. Mega; M; Million
• B. Giga; G; Billion
• C. Milli; m; Thousandth
• D. Micro; u; Millionth

Answer: (A)

Mega is the SI prefix that scales a unit by one million. The prefix is Mega, the symbol is M, and it means 10^6—one million. So a unit with this prefix carries a million of those units (for example, a megawatt is 1,000,000 watts; a megabyte is 1,000,000 bytes). The capitalization matters: M stands for mega, while m stands for milli (one thousandth). The other options correspond to different prefixes: Giga = 10^9 (symbol G), Milli = 10^-3 (symbol m), Micro = 10^-6 (symbol μ or sometimes u).

Mega is the SI prefix that scales a unit by one million. The prefix is Mega, the symbol is M, and it means 10^6—one million. So a unit with this prefix carries a million of those units (for example, a megawatt is 1,000,000 watts; a megabyte is 1,000,000 bytes). The capitalization matters: M stands for mega, while m stands for milli (one thousandth). The other options correspond to different prefixes: Giga = 10^9 (symbol G), Milli = 10^-3 (symbol m), Micro = 10^-6 (symbol μ or sometimes u).