umm quick math question

[dighn]

Originally posted by: Haircut

dude that's the first time i've heard of "mibi" etc. are u sure that's used these days?! i am pretty sure when most people say megabytes, they mean 2^20 bytes. i can't remember seeing any differently.

A lot of people mean 2^20 when they say mega. The correct mathematical definition of mega that has been used since before computers were around is 10^6 it's just that most people use it incorrectly nowadays.

i thought mega just had a double meaning? anyway i searched a bit and it seems mebi is a new word created by some organization to clearn up the ambiguity. good idea.

 

[Maverick2002]

Ok, so what you're saying is that *technically* 12megabits = 1.43megabytes (the correct use of megabytes, err I mean the original use, err you know what I mean). But because of the mega- prefix confusion they just say it's 1.5megabytes?

 

[dighn]

Originally posted by: Maverick2002
Ok, so what you're saying is that *technically* 12megabits = 1.43megabytes (the correct use of megabytes, err I mean the original use, err you know what I mean). But because of the mega- prefix confusion they just say it's 1.5megabytes?

well storage/network industries like to use the "regular" 10^6 definition so the speed/storage sounds bigger. but in the context of software, yyou use 2^20