Re: Abbr. for kilobyte?

[Pierre Pierre Blais <ppblais -at- BNR -dot- CA>]

In article <2v03ul$597 -at- news1 -dot- digex -dot- net> kcivey -at- cpcug -dot- digex -dot- net (Keith Ivey)
 writes:
>Does anyone know of any definitive rulings on whether "kilobyte" should
>be abbreviated as "KB", "Kb", "kB", or "kb"?  I think I have seen all
>four.  Some people say that "B" should be used for "byte" and "b" for
>"bit".  The SI system, of course, uses "k" for 1,000, so there is an
>argument that "K" should be used for 1,024--but this leaves open the
>question of how to distinguish between "M" meaning 1,000,000 and "M"
>meaning 1,048,576.  If you follow up, please cite your sources.  (Yes, I
>realize I didn't, but that's because I can't remember them.  These are
>just vague rememberings.)

>--Keith Ivey <kcivey -at- cpcug -dot- org>
>  Washington, DC

We use kbit and kbyte. It is typically understood from the context
whether or not k=1000 or k=1024.  When it is not clear, we recommend
using 1.024 kbyte.  (Corporate standard, typically followed by few.)

Note the following:

        5 kbyte                 and not 5 kbytes (units are not pluralized)
        5k bytes                a count of 5000 bytes (not a unit, plural
                                applies)
        5 Mbit/s                and not Mbps, although this is common in
                                the litterature (we follow SI rules)


Spelling out bit and byte reduces the confusion, as opposed to trying
to "fool around" with case.

Sincerely,
Pierre Pierre Blais.
(My opinions, not those of BNR.)
--
[Pierre Pierre Blais                | E-mail: ppblais -at- bnr -dot- ca       ]
[Bell-Northern Research             | Tel:    +1 (613) 763-3071    ]
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