What is Mega?
Technically, mega is a prefix used to denote a quantity amounting to one million or 10 to the 6th power. This prefix belongs to the category called prefix multipliers, which also includes ‘kilo’ (one thousand), ‘giga’ (one billion), ‘tera’ (one trillion).
Mega can often be heard being used in mathematical terms, scientific terms or computing terms. ‘Megaton’ means the energy released when one million tons of TNT is ignite. ‘Megapixel’ means 1 million pixels (usually used in digital cameras and in LCD monitors). In binary systems however, there is a slight change, as mega- in this sense means 2 to the 20th power or 1,048,576 bytes.
Mega can also mean to connote something large or grand, or something that is beyond the ordinary. You can oftentimes the words ‘megadose’ or an exceptionally big dose of something, usually medicine or vitamins; ‘megahit’ a song that is topping the records charts in unexpected levels; ‘megalosaurus’ a large dinosaur from the Jurassic period; and even ‘megaphone’ a device used to magnify sound multiple times.
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