k, K, kB, KiB and the "Konfusion" behind!
Today I want tell you about "k"(small k), not "K" (capital K), and its meaning in the computing world. "k" is the abbreviation for kilo, and kilo stands for one "thousand", 1000. Period! So, 1 kg is 1000 g, 1 km is 1000 m and so on... or at least this is the case until you speak about things that have nothing to do with computers. When it comes to computers, and computer-things, the usage of "k", as well as "M", "T", etc is INCONSISTENT . In different contexts within IT, "k" can be: 1000 10 24 The same "konfusion" (sorry I couldn't resist!) apply for the other multipliers mega, giga, tera , etc. How many bytes are 1 kilobyte (1 kB), 1 megabyte (1 MB) or 1 gigabyte (1 GB) ? Well IF you are talking about RAM: 1 kB = 1024 bytes 1 MB = 1024 kB 1 GB = 1024 MB So your 8 GB RAM is actually 8*(1024)^3 = 8*1 073 741 824 bytes = 8 589 934 592 bytes this is 7.4 % MORE than ...
