And now for something completely boring

We often use KB to represent kilo bytes. By doing this, we are making the following mistakes:

1. If we want to represent it on a 10 base form, 10³, we should use kB
2. If we want to represent it on a 2 base form, 2¹⁰, we should use KiB

Here are the 10 base prefixes we learned at school:

Factor	Name	Symbol
1024	yotta	Y
1021	zetta	Z
1018	exa	E
1015	peta	P
1012	tera	T
109	giga	G
106	mega	M
103	kilo	k
102	hecto	h
101	deka	da

And here’s what our children will learn:

Factor	Name	Symbol	Origin	Derivation
210	kibi	Ki	kilobinary: (210)1	kilo: (103)1
220	mebi	Mi	megabinary: (210)2	mega: (103)2
230	gibi	Gi	gigabinary: (210)3	giga: (103)3
240	tebi	Ti	terabinary: (210)4	tera: (103)4
250	pebi	Pi	petabinary: (210)5	peta: (103)5
260	exbi	Ei	exabinary: (210)6	exa: (103)6

 

<update>

Now that I think of it, we should use SI standards to end the English speaking vs. rest of the world billion ambiguity. We should start using SI nomenclature on the financial world, stop talking about 10 billion dollars, and start talking about 10 tera dollars. Or 10 giga dollars, see what I mean? :)

</update>