match the prefix with the power of ten it represents.

So a gigahertz is equal to 10 to the power of nine hertz. The prefix giga- means one billion, which we can write in scientific notation as 10 to the power of nine. And our next one is giga- and together with hertz gives us one gigahertz, abbreviated one GHz. So let’s keep going with our list of prefixes. So it can’t also be equal to a gigahertz. And we know that it’s not the correct answer because we’ve just seen that 10 to the power of six hertz is equal to a megahertz. Now, 10 to the power of six hertz is actually one of the possible answers to this question.

So a megahertz is equal to 10 to the power of six hertz.

And in scientific notation, we can write one million as 10 to the power of six. The next prefix in our list is mega-, which when used with hertz gives us a megahertz, abbreviated one MHz. So let’s carry on with our list of prefixes. Now, 10 to the power of three is actually not one of our possible answers to this question. So one kilohertz is equal to 10 to the power of three hertz. We also know that in scientific notation, we can write 1000 as 10 to the power of three. This is equal to 1000 hertz because we know that the prefix kilo- means 1000. And when used with hertz, we have one kilohertz, which is abbreviated as one kHz. Let’s start our list with the prefix kilo. For example, it doesn’t make any sense to just talk about a giga-, but a gigahertz is a well-defined quantity. Let’s remember though that these prefixes need to be used along with a unit, in this case hertz. And we can then find giga- in this list and read off the answer. One way we can answer this question is to recall a list of prefixes and the numbers they represent. Giga- is one of a number of common prefixes that are used in scientific notation to describe large numbers. In this question though, we’re being asked about the conversion from hertz into gigahertz. So for this wave, if the 𝑥-axis is time in seconds and this point here is one second, then we would say that this wave has a frequency of one hertz, because in one second we can see that the wave has one cycle. On a graph, this would be represented by a peak and a trough like this. A cycle of a wave is a single repeating section of the wave. Let’s recall that hertz is the unit of frequency and is defined as the number of cycles per second of a wave. Okay, so in this question, we’re being asked about the prefix giga-, in this case relating to the unit hertz. Which of the following is the number of hertz in a gigahertz, shortened GHz? (A) 10 to the power of six hertz, (B) 10 to the power of eight hertz, (C) 10 to the power of nine hertz, (D) 10 to the power of 10 hertz, (E) 10 to the power of 12 hertz.

Match the prefix with the power of ten it represents.