Talk:Binary prefix

Template-table references removed from article, preserved here

Bit rates (data-rate units) Name Symbol Multiple bit per second bit/s 1 1 Metric prefixes (SI) kilobit per second kbit/s 103 10001 megabit per second Mbit/s 106 10002 gigabit per second Gbit/s 109 10003 terabit per second Tbit/s 1012 10004 Binary prefixes (IEC 80000-13) kibibit per second Kibit/s 210 10241 mebibit per second Mibit/s 220 10242 gibibit per second Gibit/s 230 10243 tebibit per second Tibit/s 240 10244

Multiple-bit units Decimal Value Metric 1000 kbit kilobit 10002 Mbit megabit 10003 Gbit gigabit 10004 Tbit terabit 10005 Pbit petabit 10006 Ebit exabit 10007 Zbit zettabit 10008 Ybit yottabit 10009 Rbit ronnabit 100010 Qbit quettabit Binary Value IEC Memory 1024 Kibit kibibit Kbit Kb kilobit 10242 Mibit mebibit Mbit Mb megabit 10243 Gibit gibibit Gbit Gb gigabit 10244 Tibit tebibit — 10245 Pibit pebibit — 10246 Eibit exbibit — 10247 Zibit zebibit — 10248 Yibit yobibit — — — Orders of magnitude of data

table that was formerly in lede, preserved here

IEC Binary Prefixes
Prefix Symbol Multiplier kibi Ki 210 1024 mebi Mi 220 10242 gibi Gi 230 10243 tebi Ti 240 10244 pebi Pi 250 10245 exbi Ei 260 10246 zebi Zi 270 10247 yobi Yi 280 10248

Power of two

As an introduction for the article it is much more useful to first state that the prefixes are powers of two, which is intuitive for people to make the correlation to BINARY, even if they struggle to grasp powers of 1024. The next paragraph of the lead even goes into this detail. The sentence states that binary prefixes represent *a* power of two, not *every* power of two. This is no different than in the decimal system of prefixes. Kbrose (talk) 22:37, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

I'd agree. I think the wikilink to Powers of two is a better choice than to Exponentation. Tarl N. (discuss) 22:55, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

I prefer technical precision to "easier to understand". Please note the first columns of each of the two parts of the table that's shown in the lede. The focus is clearly on powers of 1024. Jeh (talk) 00:12, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

I agree with Jeh. In an encyclopedia giving the reader the correct answer is more important than giving the reader an east to understand answer. Anybody who can't grasp the concept of powers of 1024 won't be able to grasp the concept of a binary prefix anyway. --Guy Macon (talk) 00:57, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

This has nothing to do with precision but with teaching. Precision is not sacrificed at all, especially as it drills further down in the next section and with table. It is pedagogical to drill down, not up. Kbrose (talk) 01:03, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

We should not teach what is not true. Jeh (talk) 03:13, 12 March 2019 (UTC)