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+ 1

Why 1 kbyte is not 1000 bytes?

Who knows physics, knows that the multiplier k in front of a unit of measure multiplies the unit by a thousand. So 1 kbyte = 1000 bytes. Why is not it in computer memory?

21st Dec 2018, 9:17 PM
RoboCybernetic
RoboCybernetic - avatar
8 Answers
+ 12
this is because computer memory is based on a binary system,so the value of any memory is always a power of 2. 2 raised to the power of 10 is 1024 thus ,there are 1024 bytes in a kilobyte
21st Dec 2018, 9:27 PM
᠌᠌Brains[Abidemi]
᠌᠌Brains[Abidemi] - avatar
+ 6
Note new binary prefix rules -- December 1998 - e.g., KiB vs KB "2^10 = 1024 bytes. Although the term kilobyte is sometimes used to refer to 1024 bytes, such usage is deprecated in favor of the standard SI naming convention of 1 kilobyte being equal to 10^3 bytes" http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Kibibyte.html NIST: Includes a table of all the prefixes https://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html Due to uneven adoption, you will occasionally see manufacturers list (e.g.) "500 GiB" on their marketing materials, other times "500 GB". Linux releases also indicate them somewhat inconsistently, e.g. Debian: https://wiki.debian.org/ConsistentUnitPrefixes
21st Dec 2018, 10:58 PM
Kirk Schafer
Kirk Schafer - avatar
+ 3
Cause when you are talking about computers, they are made up of bits(0's and 1's) and 1028 is a power of 2, so its easier to represent as bits(1000000000 in binary, or 2^10), so i think they chose 1024 because of these things over 1000. note: 1000 = 111110100 in binary
21st Dec 2018, 9:28 PM
Luiz Felipe Funaki Bigarelli
Luiz Felipe Funaki Bigarelli - avatar
+ 1
Then I think this is only a convenient convention used to describe a memory quantity
21st Dec 2018, 9:42 PM
RoboCybernetic
RoboCybernetic - avatar
0
So, k in front of mem unit is no strictly correct because 1kw = 1000 watts
21st Dec 2018, 9:37 PM
RoboCybernetic
RoboCybernetic - avatar
0
you just have to remember that k in front of something means something different on memory units
21st Dec 2018, 9:39 PM
Luiz Felipe Funaki Bigarelli
Luiz Felipe Funaki Bigarelli - avatar
0
It should be 1.024kbyte.
22nd Dec 2018, 5:01 AM
Calviղ
Calviղ - avatar
0
2^10 is 1024 bytes. Every value of a memory is to the power of 2.
29th Dec 2018, 11:13 AM
Victor Ebuka Chizoba
Victor Ebuka Chizoba - avatar