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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.

Common usage

• Gigabyte — harddisk capacity, e.g. 120 Gb; DVD capacity, e.g. 5 Gb = 5 × 1 073 741 824 bytes.
• Gigahertz — clock rate of a CPU, e.g. 3 GHz = 3 000 000 000 Hz

See also

• SI prefix
• Binary prefix
• gibibyte
• Gigabit Ethernet