Xref: utzoo sci.misc:5160 comp.misc:12957
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!spool.mu.edu!caen!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!bbn.com!nic!kira!emily!wollman
From: wollman@emily.uvm.edu (Garrett Wollman)
Newsgroups: sci.misc,comp.misc
Subject: Re: SI Magnitudes
Message-ID: <1991Jun19.023802.26639@uvm.edu>
Date: 19 Jun 91 02:38:02 GMT
References: <1991Jun13.015452.8824@rice.edu> <2881@otc.otca.oz> <STEVE.91Jun14171555@diana.Advansoft.COM>
Sender: news@uvm.edu
Organization: University of Vermont - EMBA Computing Facility
Lines: 24

In article <STEVE.91Jun14171555@diana.Advansoft.COM> steve@Advansoft.COM (Steve Savitzky) writes:
>Well, depends on whether you consider software to be an engineering
>discipline.  64 bits will address about 18.4 exabytes.  

Hold it!  You should know better than that!

Here's the binary-SI prefixes for computers

	kilo-	k	(2^10)^1 = 2^10 = 1024
	mega-	M	(2^10)^2 = 2^20 = 1048576
	giga-	G	(2^10)^3 = 2^30 = 1073741824
	tera-	T	(2^10)^4 = 2^40 = 109951162778
	peta-	P	(2^10)^5 = 2^50 ~= 1.1259e15
	exa-	E	(2^10)^6 = 2^60 ~= 1.1529e18

So, 64 bits will address precisely 16 exabytes.  [2^64/2^60 = 2^4 = 16]

-GAWollman


Garrett A. Wollman - wollman@emily.uvm.edu

Disclaimer:  I'm not even sure this represents *my* opinion, never
mind UVM's, EMBA's, EMBA-CF's, or indeed anyone else's.