One megahertz equals how many cycles per second?

One megahertz equals how many cycles per second?

• A. One cycle per second
• B. One thousand cycles per second
• C. One billion cycles per second
• D. One million cycles per second

Answer: (D)

Frequency is measured in hertz, which means cycles per second. The prefix mega- represents a factor of 10^6, so one megahertz equals a million cycles per second. In other words, 1 MHz = 1,000,000 Hz. The other scales are different: 1 Hz is one cycle per second, 1 kHz is 1,000 cycles per second, and 1 GHz is 1,000,000,000 cycles per second. This is how frequency units line up across the common prefixes.

Frequency is measured in hertz, which means cycles per second. The prefix mega- represents a factor of 10^6, so one megahertz equals a million cycles per second. In other words, 1 MHz = 1,000,000 Hz. The other scales are different: 1 Hz is one cycle per second, 1 kHz is 1,000 cycles per second, and 1 GHz is 1,000,000,000 cycles per second. This is how frequency units line up across the common prefixes.