What unit of measurement is commonly used to determine the speed of a processor?

The speed of a processor is measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz), which indicate the number of cycles a CPU can complete in one second. One megahertz represents one million cycles per second, while one gigahertz equals one billion cycles per second. This measurement provides a clear understanding of how quickly a processor can execute instructions and perform tasks, making it a crucial factor in determining overall system performance.

In contrast, gigabytes, milliseconds, and terabytes measure different attributes of computer systems. Gigabytes refer to data storage capacity, milliseconds measure time delays or response times, and terabytes also relate to storage but represent a much larger scale than gigabytes. Therefore, megahertz is the appropriate unit for conveying processor speed.