Binary prefixes for units - New Tutorial Article

You are all familiar with the situation in which one kilohertz equals 1000 hertz, one kilobyte equals 1024 bytes, and one kilobyte/second maybe means 1000 bytes per second (but maybe not).

This same complication sometimes arises in connection with the pixel counts on digital cameras, in which some think that one megapixel is 1,000,000 pixels (true), some think that one megapixel is 1,048,576 pixels, and some even think that one megapixel is 1,024,000 pixels.

The whole story of this untidy situation, and of a recent cure for it (generally ignored), is given by my new technical article, "Binary Prefixes for Units", available here:

http://doug.kerr.home.att.net/pumpkin/index.htm#BinaryPrefixes

Ok... First I have to give you a time frame. For me (1/2 the time) it's kilo-cycles. Hertz is one of those new fangled terms that I can reject for my own reality. I live in a binary or at worst octal frame. What kind of number is 'F' ?? I am an American so the metric system is not were it's at. This whole thing of Kbytes, Kwords, Kwhatevers is something to either ignore or just round it out. When I buy a disk drive that is 500gb I know that's not what I get. Due to the marketing of the manufacturer and the 'overhead' of the operating system. I may get 475 or somewhere in that ballpark of space. This equals Pretty Big storage..
Years ago I worked for a memory manufacturer that built memory systems for the DEC PDP8 computer. It was a 12 bit word length. I got a call from some US government agency that needed some memory. The form he had insisted on ordering memory in bytes. Well, you can see an issue here. With 12 bits you had a byte and 1/2... or if you are a real geek a byte and a nibble. Since the memory where sold as 16k words and we had to convert that to bytes for his form... and then tell our sales people to write it up correctly, it was great sport. The whole thing is like the metric/American(or US customary units) issue.
I work at a university with a lot of foreign students, so I deal with measurement differences all the time. The department I run is an electronics/computer design/repair/support group out of the college of sciences. I was having a discussion with a grad student about metric vs US customary units . I asked him to show me (with his arms) a meter. He showed me and then I showed him a yard. They were about the same. Gosh!! If the student needs two meters of wire, I can stretch my arms out (I'm about 6 ft) and give him the wire he needs. I think that's the issue with the US not going metric. They make it to complicated and don't break it down to something simple like a meter is sort of like a yard. If you need an exact measurement you use a meter/yard stick.
Sorry I've gotten of track here. Maybe I still confused with the last projection post All I know is that my 1ds MkIII has a very big sensor and is bigger that my 1d Mk II. But both are capable of large prints that can be very pretty..... Do you watch 'Good Eats' on the Food Channel? Cooking with science.....
Please take this in the tone it was intended.. humor and fun.......
I guess I have been the computer business way, way to long......

Hi, Duke,

Duke Beattie said:

. . .
Sorry I've gotten of track here. Maybe I still confused with the last projection post All I know is that my 1ds MkIII has a very big sensor and is bigger that my 1d Mk II. But both are capable of large prints that can be very pretty..... Do you watch 'Good Eats' on the Food Channel? Cooking with science.....
Please take this in the tone it was intended.. humor and fun.......
I guess I have been the computer business way, way to long......

Click to expand...

All well said. I enjoy your outlook. Believe me, I have had many of the same feelings.

Thanks for writing.

Best regards,

Doug