Question

Megahertz is equal to one ____ cycles (or instructions) per second.

1) million
2) billion
3) trillion
4) quadrillion

Answer 1

Megahertz represents one million cycles per second, with the term 'hertz' being the unit of frequency used to measure cycles in periodic phenomena like computer processing speeds.

Step-by-step explanation:

Megahertz is equal to one million cycles (or instructions) per second. The term Hertz (Hz) is the SI unit for frequency, which characterizes the number of cycles per second in a periodic phenomenon. To provide context, an example can be found in computer processing where a Pentium chip can execute more than 100 million instructions per second. Each level of frequency magnitude has a corresponding prefix; for example, a gigahertz (GHz) is 10⁹ Hz, indicating a billion cycles per second.