.... et al. wrote:

NuT CrAcKeR wrote:

"... et al." wrote in message
s.invalid...

NuT CrAcKeR wrote nothing besides:

KB... Not MB

kB ... Not KB

[ or put differently, why is it that most people use just this (binary)
prefix with a different case to the normal use of decimal prefixes as
used throughout science as per the SI Unit Prefixes endorsed by the
International System of Units ? ]


No, KB for KiloBytes. The K and M are always capitalized. Its the ending
that confuses most people.

Where are they always capitalized? Only in the computer-related fields!
Why there if nowhere else?

kilo is designated "k" when used as a prefix in SI units.
mega is designated "M" when used as a prefix in SI units.

While the unit designation (b vs. B) do confuse people because so many
writers doesn't know and/or care about the difference or they think the
meaning is given by the context, the use of nonstandard capitalization
of the prefix (only for Kilo, not for Mega etc) _should_ confuse people.
That was kinda the point of my post, while nitpicking on a nitpicker ;-)


For example...

"I have a 1.5MB DSL connection"

This is obviously incorrect, as megabytes is not a quantity used to
measure bandwidth. The correct statement would be,

" I have a 1.5Mb DSL connection "
.. as megabits are indeed a unit of measure used to quantify bandwidth.

Whether you should have a 1.5 megabyte (per second) or a 1.5 megabit
(per second) DSL connection is for you and your ISP to negotiate ;-)


I have no idea what a small k would be used for... perhaps the measure of
calories?

kC = kila-calories...

just a though.

Was that example choosen deliberately? You know the SI Unit for Energy
is joule (J), don't you? Calorie has been left by the wayside along with
erg, inch & pound et cetera, a long time ago.
For what small k _is_ used for look around the world (outside the
computerfield) at any unit whose amount is best given in kilo-unit.

According to the NIST, "k" denotes decimal 10^3, while "Ki" denotes the
closest power of 2, 2^10 or decimal 1024. Perhaps that's the source of the
confusion?


--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)