Common Metric Prefixes in Computers
Note: This material could be on the test.
| Abbreviation | Prefix | English | Fraction | Exponential
| | n | Nano | 1 Billionth | 1/1,000,000,000 | 1x10-9
|
| u | Micro | 1 Millionth | 1/1,000,000 | 1x10-6
|
| m | Milli | 1 Thousandth | 1/1,000 | 1x10-3
|
| K | Kilo | 1 Thousand | 1,000 | 1x103
|
| M | Mega | 1 Million | 1,000,000 | 1x106
|
| G | Giga | 1 Billion | 1,000,000,000 | 1x109
|
| T | Tera | 1 Trillion | 1,000,000,000,000 | 1x1012
|
In computers these values are actually powers of 2 not powers of 10. For example
1 kilobyte is really 1024 or 210 not 1000. You are not required to know
the exact values of these prefixes in computers, just be aware of it. You should
know the relative sizes.
The type of questions you can expect regarding metric prefixes would be like
"Which number represents the largest amount of memory?"
100K, 50MB, 10 millibytes, 3TB, or 234 gigs
The answer would be 3TB.
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