# mega, giga, tera... what's next?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 26, 2001, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251 "2001-11-26T05:49:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 18\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251/1 "2001-11-26T05:49:41Z")

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My husband has been wondering what the next big prefix would be after tera. Has one been invented? If not, can we make suggestions?

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**Author:** ![Thrasymachus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@Thrasymachus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thrasymachus)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251/2 "2001-11-26T05:53:13Z")

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Peta.

[http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/ChemResources/Weights-n-Measures/metric.html](http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/ChemResources/Weights-n-Measures/metric.html)

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**Author:** ![techchick68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251/3 "2001-11-26T05:54:13Z")

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I believe the next one to be an exabyte…which is a billion gigabytes

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**Author:** ![techchick68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251/4 "2001-11-26T05:55:18Z")

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wait, is exabyte between gigabyte and terabyte?

UGH I am confused…

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251/5 "2001-11-26T05:55:19Z")

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[Size does matter to Helena](http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci499008,00.html)

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**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251/6 "2001-11-26T10:14:35Z")

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I vote for larga, huga, giganta, insana, ridicula.

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**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251/7 "2001-11-26T11:21:44Z")

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Well, Sturmy, don’t forget Ludicra.

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**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251/8 "2001-11-26T11:30:15Z")

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But then we would go plaid, and we can’t have that now can we? Argyle, now, that’s another matter entirely.

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**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251/9 "2001-11-26T12:42:12Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by astro \*  
> **[Size does matter to Helena](http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci499008,00.html)**

Cute, but things have changed…  
According to [NIST](http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html), even the 'merkins are supposed to use the following for the famous ‘binary prefixes’ :

```auto

**Prefixes for binary multiples**
 Factor Name Symbol Origin Derivation
 2[sup]10[/sup] kibi Ki kilobinary: (2[sup]10[/sup])[sup]1[/sup]
 2[sup]20[/sup] mebi Mi megabinary: (2[sup]10[/sup])[sup]2[/sup]
 2[sup]30[/sup] gibi Gi gigabinary: (2[sup]10[/sup])[sup]3[/sup]
 2[sup]40[/sup] tebi Ti terabinary: (2[sup]10[/sup])[sup]4[/sup]
 2[sup]50[/sup] pebi Pi petabinary: (2[sup]10[/sup])[sup]5[/sup]
 2[sup]60[/sup] exbi Ei exabinary: (2[sup]10[/sup])[sup]6[/sup]
for example:
one gibibyte 1 GiB = 2[sup]30[/sup] B = 1 073 741 824 B
one gigabyte 1 GB = 10[sup]9[/sup] B = 1 000 000 000 B

```

This is supposed to be international standard, as sanctioned by IEC, IEEE, CIMP and NIST. (It ought to be included in ISO 1000, (Or maybe ISO-30?), but I don’t know if it is yet.)  
But I have to admit that I have never seen anyone use these prefixes.

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**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251/10 "2001-11-26T12:51:36Z")

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Look, I sound silly enough saying “gigabyte”; “gibybyte” isn’t an option here!

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**Author:** ![puk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ea5d25/32.png) [@puk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puk)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251/11 "2001-11-26T14:07:11Z")

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Well, how about [googolplex](http://public.logica.com/~stepneys/cyc/g/googol.htm)byte

see also

[http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.large.numbers.html](http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.large.numbers.html)

🙂

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Proving time and again that Preview reply is worth your while.

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251/12 "2001-11-26T15:57:54Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by AHunter3 \*  
> \*\*Look, I sound silly enough saying “gigabyte”; “gibybyte” isn’t an option here! \*\*

The objection comes from Metric purists, who say that existing metric prefixes stand only for powers of ten (kili = 1000, mega = 1,000,000, giga = 1,000,000,000, tera = 1,000,000,000,000, etc) but computer storage is counted in powers of two, not ten. A “kilobyte” is realy 1024 bytes, (2[sup]10[/sup]) not 1000 (10[sup]3[/sup]). Thus the case for the alternate prefixes.

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**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251/13 "2001-11-26T16:52:14Z")

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Wow, you never know what you’re going to learn on this board! :eek:

Thanks for all responses and links. I feel much enlightened.

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**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251/14 "2001-11-28T05:51:19Z")

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Metric purists can bite my quart and kiss my ounce.

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**Author:** ![Doc\_Nickel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@Doc\_Nickel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doc_Nickel)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251/15 "2001-11-28T09:10:31Z")

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[Granpa Simpson]

My car gets forty Rods to the hogshead than that’s how I likes it!

[/Granpa Simpson]

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**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251/16 "2001-11-28T09:58:12Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by sturmhauke \*  
> \*\*Metric purists can bite my quart and kiss my ounce. \*\*

Now would that be an American quart, or an Imperial quart?

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**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251/17 "2001-11-28T13:06:49Z")

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Probably some sort of bastard hybrid.

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**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Gazoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Gazoo)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-giga-tera-whats-next/95251/18 "2001-11-28T15:14:45Z")

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I thought we had finally reached Gazillion! Isn’t that coming up soon?

The Great Gazoo votes for Gazillion! It could be GazooBytes, then. And after that, Great GazooBytes! 🙂