From smallest to largest, the correct order of prefixes is
a. giga, kilo, mega, tera
b. kilo, mega, giga, tera
c. tera, kilo, mega, giga
d. kilo, mega, tera, giga
The correct answer and explanation is :
The correct answer is:
b. kilo, mega, giga, tera
Explanation (300 words):
In the metric system, prefixes are used to denote multiples of units in powers of ten. These prefixes are commonly used in science, engineering, and computing to express very large or very small quantities in a simplified manner.
The correct order from smallest to largest for the prefixes in question is:
- Kilo (k) = 10³ = 1,000
- Mega (M) = 10⁶ = 1,000,000
- Giga (G) = 10⁹ = 1,000,000,000
- Tera (T) = 10¹² = 1,000,000,000,000
Each step up represents a multiplication by 1,000 (or three powers of ten). For example, 1 megabyte is 1,000 times larger than 1 kilobyte, 1 gigabyte is 1,000 times larger than 1 megabyte, and so on.
This system is part of the International System of Units (SI), which ensures standardization across disciplines and countries. In computing, these prefixes are often used to measure data storage or data transfer speeds, such as kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB), and terabytes (TB).
Here’s a quick breakdown:
- 1 KB = 1,000 bytes
- 1 MB = 1,000 KB
- 1 GB = 1,000 MB
- 1 TB = 1,000 GB
Thus, the correct increasing order based on size is:
kilo < mega < giga < tera
Options a, c, and d present incorrect sequences. For example, option a puts “giga” before “kilo,” which is incorrect because giga (10⁹) is much larger than kilo (10³). Therefore, option b is the only accurate representation of increasing size by SI prefix standards.