Binary prefix: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:48, 16 January 2009

Revision as of 04:05, 23 January 2009

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== Usage notes ==

In this section, the phrase "decimal unit" is used to denote "SI designation understood in its standard, decimal, power-of-1000 sense" and "binary unit" means "SI designation understood in its binary, power-of-1024 sense." The symbol '''B''' means byte as per computer-industry standard ([[IEEE 1541]] and [[IEC 60027]]). The symbol '''b''' per [[IEEE 1541-2001]] means bit.

Certain units are always understood as decimal even in computing contexts. For example, [[hertz]] (Hz), which is used to measure '''[[clock rate]]s''' of electronic components, and bitb/s, used to measure '''[[bit rate]]'''. So a 1 GHz processor performs 1,000,000,000 clock ticks per second, a 128 kbitkb/s<!--- Truly kbitkb for kilobit, no KbitKb please ---> [[MP3]] stream consumes 128,000 bits (16 kB, 15.625 KiB) per second, and a 1&nbsp;MbitMb/s Internet connection can transfer 1,000,000 bits (125 kB, approx 122 KiB) per second, assuming an 8-bit byte, and no overhead.<ref>[http://www.dewassoc.com/kbase/hard_drives/binary_v_decimal_measurement.htm Binary vs. Decimal Measurements]</ref>

=== Pronunciation ===