I think Bill has very valid points below (especially the last paragraphs). Well said, Bill.
Marcus On Thu, 25 Dec 2003 21:18:41 Bill Potts wrote: >John S. Ward wrote: >>I suspect you may be a bit out of touch on the Byte/bit thing. >> >>First off, the use of non-integral bits is quite correct, and certainly >>possible. > >We were talking about bit as the term is used in the computer field -- >meaning binary digit -- having two states, on and off, usually represented >as 0 and 1. A second-level storage element (e.g., a byte) must have an >integral number of bits. The use of the same word in a purely mathematical >context is irrelevant to this particular discussion. > >>This sort of thing is commonplace in mathematics. You >>can raise a number to a non-integral power. Ever wonder how do you >multiply something >>times itself, e.g., 2.6 times? You can take the factorial of a >>non-integer. >>And you can have a non-integral number of bits. This situation >>often arises >>because computers are binary, but the real world isn't. > >The fact is that, on a computer, all numbers are represented within fields >in a memory structure that has an integral number of bits, both overall and >within arbitrary storage elements, such as the byte, and within whatever >length field is being used. > >>Secondly, in English I've seen the symbol "b" used very >>consistently for bit >>and "B" for byte. The main exception seems to be non-technical people who >>don't completely understand the difference between a bit and a byte. > >Yes, b is often used for bit, although in an incorrect manner, as in bps, >kbps, Kbps, Mbps, etc. On the other hand, standards organizations, such as >ISO and ITU, use bit, as in bit/s, kbit/s, Mbit/s, Gbit/s, etc. (Although I >don't have a current version, I have the entire set of ITU-T [formerly >CCITT] I-series, V-series and X-series Recommendations.) > >>I do appreciate your pointing out that this isn't an international >>standard. > >And with good reason. As Robert Bushnell pointed out, B is the SI symbol for >the acceptable non-SI dimensionless unit, bel, and, as I pointed out, b is >the symbol for the acceptable non-SI unit, barn. > >Even though bits, bytes, etc. are non-SI, SI notation provides an excellent >and consistent framework for expressing them. > >Bill Potts, FBCS, CMS >Roseville, CA >http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] > > ____________________________________________________________ Get 25MB of email storage with Lycos Mail Plus! Sign up today -- http://www.mail.lycos.com/brandPage.shtml?pageId=plus
