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[return to "1 kilobyte is precisely 1000 bytes?"]
1. kmm+rb[view] [source] 2026-02-03 17:41:38
>>surpri+(OP)
And a megabyte is depending on the context precisely 1000x1000=1,000,000 or 1024x1024=1,048,576 bytes*, except when you're talking about the classic 3.5 inch floppy disks, where "1.44 MB" stands for 1440x1024 bytes, or about 1.47 true MB or 1.41 MiB.

* Yeah, I read the article. Regardless of the IEC's noble attempt, in all my years of working with people and computers I've never heard anyone actually pronounce MiB (or write it out in full) as "mebibyte".

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2. pif+7k[view] [source] 2026-02-03 18:13:51
>>kmm+rb
> I've never heard

It doesn't matter. "kilo" means 1000. People are free to use it wrong if they wish.

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3. tomber+aG[view] [source] 2026-02-03 19:41:14
>>pif+7k
All words are made up. They weren’t handed down from a deity, they were made up by humans to communicate ideas to other humans.

“Kilo” can mean what we want in different contexts and it’s really no more or less correct as long as both parties understand and are consistent in their usage to each other.

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4. throw0+B91[view] [source] 2026-02-03 22:04:20
>>tomber+aG
>> It doesn't matter. "kilo" means 1000. People are free to use it wrong if they wish.

> All words are made up.

Yes, and the made up words of kilo and kibi were given specific definitions by the people who made them up:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_prefix

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix

> […] as long as both parties understand and are consistent in their usage to each other.

And if they don't? What happens then?

Perhaps it would be easier to use the words definitions as they are set up in standards and regulations so context is less of an issue.

* https://xkcd.com/1860/

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5. mr_toa+HK1[view] [source] 2026-02-04 01:41:13
>>throw0+B91
> Yes, and the made up words of kilo and kibi were given specific definitions by the people who made them up

Kilo was generally understood to mean one thousand long before it was adopted by a standards committee. I know the French love to try and prescribe the use of language, but in most of the world words just mean what people generally understand them to mean; and that meaning can change.

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