Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: 1 TB (terabyte)
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
Computer storage and data sizes are measured using standard units such as kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes and terabytes. Understanding the order of these units is important when comparing file sizes, storage devices and internet data plans. This question asks you to identify the largest unit among the options given.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
The typical hierarchy of data units from small to large is: bit, byte, kilobyte (KB), megabyte (MB), gigabyte (GB) and terabyte (TB). Each step up usually represents a multiplication by about 1000 (in decimal) or 1024 (in binary) in capacity. Therefore, 1 TB is much larger than 1 GB, which is larger than 1 MB, which in turn is larger than 1 KB. To answer the question, we simply identify the unit with the largest prefix among kilo, mega, giga and tera.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Recall the order of prefixes: kilo (10^3), mega (10^6), giga (10^9), tera (10^12).
Step 2: Match each prefix to the data unit: 1 KB, 1 MB, 1 GB, 1 TB.
Step 3: Recognise that tera corresponds to the highest multiplier among the listed options.
Step 4: Therefore, 1 TB represents a much larger quantity of information than 1 GB, 1 MB or 1 KB.
Step 5: Conclude that 1 TB (terabyte) is the largest unit of information in the given list.
Verification / Alternative check:
We can also think in terms of relative sizes: roughly, 1 GB is about 1000 MB, 1 MB is about 1000 KB and 1 TB is about 1000 GB. This means 1 TB is about 1,000,000 MB or about 1,000,000,000 KB, which clearly makes it the largest unit among the options. Modern hard drives and SSDs are commonly specified in terabytes, whereas smaller files like documents and images are measured in kilobytes or megabytes, confirming that TB is much larger in scale.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
1 GB (gigabyte): Larger than MB and KB but still much smaller than 1 TB.
Common Pitfalls:
Students sometimes mix up the order of giga and tera or think that GB and TB are almost the same. Another confusion arises when some systems display capacities using binary multiples (1024) while marketing materials use decimal multiples (1000), but in either case TB is still larger than GB. Remember the prefix order: kilo, mega, giga, tera from smaller to larger.
Final Answer:
The largest unit of information listed is 1 TB (terabyte).
Discussion & Comments