mega and gaga hertz

[JoseyWales]

how many megahertz equals one gigahertz

[Dean Huster]

This is almost direct from my word processor. I hope it formats correctly. If not, you'll see a lot of crap crammed together. If so, I'll try again. In each area, a number similar to "10^-12" is understood to be "ten to the minus twelfth power"


Metric (SI) Prefixes

Symbol Name Factor (Power of 10) Factor (Decimal)

Y yotta 10^24 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000

Z zetta 10^21 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000

E exa 10^18 1 000 000 000 000 000 000

P peta 10^15 1 000 000 000 000 000

T tera 10^12 1 000 000 000 000

G giga 10^9 1 000 000 000

M mega 10^6 1 000 000

k kilo 10^3 1000

h hecto* 10^2 100

da deka* 10^1 10

(none) – 10^0 1

d deci* 10^-1 0.1

c centi* 10^-2 0.01

m milli 10^-3 0.001

µ micro 10^-6 0.000 001

n nano 10^-9 0.000 000 001

p pico 10^-12 0.000 000 000 001

f femto 10^-15 0.000 000 000 000 001

a atto 10^-18 0.000 000 000 000 000 001

z zepto 10^-21 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 001

y yocto 10^-24 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001

*hecto, deka, deci and centi do not adhere to the usual direct conversion of engineering notation (all powers of 10 are integer multiples of 3) to metric prefixes. Deci and centi are in very common use (decibels and centimeters) but hecto and deka are rarely seen.

List source: National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST Special Publication 330, 2001 Edition, The International System of Units (SI), Barry N. Taylor, Editor (public domain material). This publication is a wonderful explanation of the "metric" (SI) system of measurement. A sister publication by the NIST, Special Publication 811, 1995 Edition, Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI) by Barry N. Taylor, has one of the best lists of conversions between English and "metric" available. Both of these publications are available free of charge from the NIST.



Metric Prefixes – Short, Practical List


T tera x10^12 x1,000,000,000,000
Example: terabytes (maybe by 2010)


G giga x10^9 x1,000,000,000
Example: 2.4 gigaHertz cordless phone; 20 gigabyte hard disk drive

M mega x10^6 x1,000,000
Example: 512 megabytes of memory; 94.5 megaHertz FM (KKLR)

K(k) kilo x10^3 x1,000
Example: 930 kiloHertz AM (KWOC)


– -- x10^0 x1


m milli x10^-3 x0.001
Example: 21.3 millimeters; 500 milliliters


m micro x10^-6 x0.000 001
Example: 10 microfarad motor capacitor


n nano x10^-9 x0.000 000 001
Example: 120 nanosecond RAM chip


p pico x10^-12 x0.000 000 000 001
Example: 470 picofarads; 900 picoseconds


Quantities larger than 1 (positive powers of 10) have upper-case multipliers; numbers less than 1 (negative powers of 10) have lower-case multipliers. Internationally, kilo is usually written as lower-case making it an exception, but there's no reason to not use upper-case just to keep things simple to remember as "K" vs. "k" isn't otherwise used as a prefix. The Greek letter "m" is the only unusual letter used as a prefix and is formed by putting a descender on a lower-case "u" making "µ". In fact, in the days of typewriters, "u" was understood to be "µ" when used in the context of a prefix such as "27uF" meaning "27µF". Sometimes, the preceding descender was added by hand for more formal papers and the richer publishing houses actually used a true "mu". Two other commonly-used prefixes do not fit this "metric" list in that they do not use an integer multiple of 3 as a power: "d" for "deci" (x10^-1) as in decibel and "c" for "centi" (x10^-2) as in centimeter. This also means that centipede and millipede (100- and 1000-legged bugs) are improper uses of the prefixes as they would really mean each only had one partial leg.

[Dean Huster]

OK. It was somewhat of a train wreck, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. By the way, the short answer to your question is:

1000 MHz = 1 GHz

[Dean Huster]

Well, this isn't much of an improvement. I removed all tabs and replaced with multiple spaces -- which the board ignores. I'll never get tabular data right on these forums.



Metric (SI) Prefixes

Symbol Name Factor (Power of 10) Factor (Decimal)

Y yotta 10^24 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000

Z zetta 10^21 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000

E exa 10^18 1 000 000 000 000 000 000

P peta 10^15 1 000 000 000 000 000

T tera 10^12 1 000 000 000 000

G giga 10^9 1 000 000 000

M mega 10^6 1 000 000

k kilo 10^3 1000

h hecto* 10^2 100

da deka* 10^1 10

(none) – 10^0 1

d deci* 10^-1 0.1

c centi* 10^-2 0.01

m milli 10^-3 0.001

µ micro 10^-6 0.000 001

n nano 10^-9 0.000 000 001

p pico 10^-12 0.000 000 000 001

f femto 10^-15 0.000 000 000 000 001

a atto 10^-18 0.000 000 000 000 000 001

z zepto 10^-21 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 001

y yocto 10^-24 0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001

*hecto, deka, deci and centi do not adhere to the usual direct conversion of engineering notation (all powers of 10 are integer multiples of 3) to metric prefixes. Deci and centi are in very common use (decibels and centimeters) but hecto and deka are rarely seen.

List source: National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST Special Publication 330, 2001 Edition, The International System of Units (SI), Barry N. Taylor, Editor (public domain material). This publication is a wonderful explanation of the "metric" (SI) system of measurement. A sister publication by the NIST, Special Publication 811, 1995 Edition, Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI) by Barry N. Taylor, has one of the best lists of conversions between English and "metric" available. Both of these publications are available free of charge from the NIST.



Metric Prefixes – Short, Practical List


T tera x10^12 x1,000,000,000,000
Example: terabytes (maybe by 2010)


G giga x10^9 x1,000,000,000
Example: 2.4 gigaHertz cordless phone; 20 gigabyte hard disk drive

M mega x10^6 x1,000,000
Example: 512 megabytes of memory; 94.5 megaHertz FM (KKLR)

K(k) kilo x10^3 x1,000
Example: 930 kiloHertz AM (KWOC)


– -- x10^0 x1


m milli x10^-3 x0.001
Example: 21.3 millimeters; 500 milliliters


m micro x10^-6 x0.000 001
Example: 10 microfarad motor capacitor


n nano x10^-9 x0.000 000 001
Example: 120 nanosecond RAM chip


p pico x10^-12 x0.000 000 000 001
Example: 470 picofarads; 900 picoseconds


Quantities larger than 1 (positive powers of 10) have upper-case multipliers; numbers less than 1 (negative powers of 10) have lower-case multipliers. Internationally, kilo is usually written as lower-case making it an exception, but there's no reason to not use upper-case just to keep things simple to remember as "K" vs. "k" isn't otherwise used as a prefix. The Greek letter "m" is the only unusual letter used as a prefix and is formed by putting a descender on a lower-case "u" making "µ". In fact, in the days of typewriters, "u" was understood to be "µ" when used in the context of a prefix such as "27uF" meaning "27µF". Sometimes, the preceding descender was added by hand for more formal papers and the richer publishing houses actually used a true "mu". Two other commonly-used prefixes do not fit this "metric" list in that they do not use an integer multiple of 3 as a power: "d" for "deci" (x10^-1) as in decibel and "c" for "centi" (x10^-2) as in centimeter. This also means that centipede and millipede (100- and 1000-legged bugs) are improper uses of the prefixes as they would really mean each only had one partial leg.

[Bob Scott]

Boy, they really messed up dollars. Mille is thousand in French. One mil is 1/1,000 of an inch, but million means 1,000,000. If it were done right, million would be 1,000. Billion would be 1,000,000 (two sets of 3 zeros). Trillion would be 3 sets of 3 zeros. But Noooooo!