  We define a polynomial measure of multiparticle entanglement which is
scalable, i.e., which applies to any number of spin-1/2 particles. By
evaluating it for three particle states, for eigenstates of the one dimensional
Heisenberg antiferromagnet and on quantum error correcting code subspaces, we
illustrate the extent to which it quantifies global entanglement. We also apply
it to track the evolution of entanglement during a quantum computation.
