How many kilobytes make up a megabyte?

A megabyte is a unit of digital information that is equivalent to 1024 kilobytes. The term "megabyte" comes from the prefix "mega," indicating a factor of one million in some contexts, but in computer science, it is commonly defined using the binary system where 1 megabyte equals 1024 kilobytes (as 1 kilobyte equals 1024 bytes).

This binary system is based on powers of two, which is why the correct conversion is 1024 rather than a round figure like 1000. The other options provide figures that do not align with this binary definition; therefore, they cannot be the correct answer. Understanding this is essential for clarifying the distinction between the base 10 (decimal) and base 2 (binary) measurements often encountered in computer science.