| Oh NO, marketing does it again.
This is probably the old computer Mega-bytes vs. Marketing Mega-bytes.
Marketing Mega-bytes is also known as Metric Mega-bytes.
Does a Mega-byte = 1 Million bytes = 1,000,000 bytes?
or
Does a Mega-byte = 1 Million bytes = 1,048,576 bytes?
If you are familiar with the real world of Kilometers and Kilograms
and all those other measurements for length, and mass, and all that
other stuff, then you might assume that 1 million = 1,000,000. If
you also assume that 1 character = 1 byte, then a disk with room
for 1 million bytes should store a 1,000,000 character document.
Notice that most (if not all) disk vendors use the marketing Mega-byte
for the measurement for their disks. A 135Mb disk I have will hold
a document containing roughly 135,000,000 characters (or bytes). It
actually holds exactly 134,217,728 bytes (which if you divide by
1048576 - a computer mega-byte, makes 128Mb).
So, I guess that just goes to prove that in marketing 128 = 135 (or
1 = 1.048576). I suppose it's a miracle that marketing people and
computer people ever agree!
Fred
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| And if you want to get even more confusing than 1,000,000 == 1048576, then take
a look at 3 1/2 inch floppy disks. You know, the standard floppy disk of today,
which holds "1.44 MB"? Well, it will actually hold 1474560 bytes.
Lessee, 1474560 / 1000000 = 1.47 MB. Nope, that ain't it.
1474560 / 1048576 = 1.41 MB. Nope, that ain't it either.
1474560 / 1.44 = 1024000.
That's right, a "floppy disk megabyte" is 1024 * 1000. Somebody decided to
combine the 2^10 and the 10^3 figures. Aieeee!
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