The Mega reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

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, a megawatt is 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.
• in computing:
  • A megabyte is 1,048,576 (2²⁰) bytes. The prefix mebi has been suggested as an alternative.
  • A megabit is 1,000,000 (10⁶) bits when denoting transfer rates, i.e. megabit/s. For storage capacity, however, a megabit is 1,048,576 (2²⁰) bits.

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

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