Binary prefix

In computing, binary prefixes can be used to quantify large numbers where powers of two are more useful than powers of ten. They are often wrongly written and pronounced identically to the SI prefixes, but each successive prefix is multiplied by 1024 (210) rather than 1000 (103).

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Using the prefixes kilo-, mega-, giga-, etc., and their symbols K, M, G, etc. (see below for the peculiarities of "K"), in the binary sense can cause serious confusion.

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In January 1999, the International Electrotechnical Commission introduced the prefixes kibi-, mebi-, gibi-, etc., and the symbols Ki, Mi, Gi, etc. to specify binary multiples of a quantity. {{ref|1}} They have since been officially adopted by many other organizations. However, there is widescale resistance to this new terminology and many people prefer to use the SI prefixes in a binary sense, even though this is incorrect. As a result, there is no unambiguous notation for decimal multiples of bits and bytes.

Related Topics:
1999 - International Electrotechnical Commission - SI prefix

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