Giga

   

Giga (symbol: G) is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting 109, or 1 000 000 000.

Confirmed in 1960, it comes from the Greek γίγας, meaning giant.

In computing, giga can sometimes mean 1 073 741 824 (230) for information units, eg gigabit or gigabyte, but can also denote 1 000 000 000 of other quantities, e.g. transfer rates: 1 gigabit/s = 1 000 000 000 bit/s. The binary prefix gibi has been suggested for 230, to resolve this ambiguity, but had yet to achieve widespread usage.

In speech, gigabyte is often abbreviated to gig, as in "This is a ten-gig hard drive". The initial G in giga- is usually pronounced hard as in geek, not soft as in giant. However, in the 1985 movie Back to the Future, the term giga was pronounced with a soft g sound, as jiga, in the word gigawatts. This was before units like gigabyte were commonplace.

Common usage


SI prefixes

Edit (http://www.mywiseowl.com/index.php?title=Template:SI_prefixes&action=edit)

(Sub)multiple Prefix Symbol Short scale Name Long scale Name
1024 yotta Y Septillion Quadrillion
1021 zetta Z Sextillion Thousand trillion (Trilliard)
1018 exa E Quintillion Trillion
1015 peta P Quadrillion Thousand billion (Billiard)
1012 tera T Trillion Billion
109 giga G Billion Thousand million (Milliard)
106 mega M Million
103 kilo k Thousand
102 hecto h Hundred
101 deca da Ten
10-1 deci d Tenth
10-2 centi c Hundredth
10-3 milli m Thousandth
10-6 micro µ Millionth
10-9 nano n Billionth Milliardth
10-12 pico p Trillionth Billionth
10-15 femto f Quadrillionth Billiardth
10-18 atto a Quintillionth Trillionth
10-21 zepto z Sextillionth Trilliardth
10-24 yocto y Septillionth Quadrillionth


See also

External link

ca:Giga de:Giga es:Giga fr:Giga sl:Giga fi:Giga


Retrieved from "http://www.mywiseowl.com/articles/Giga"

This page has been accessed 650 times. This page was last modified 13:45, 21 Nov 2004. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (see Copyrights for details).