Units of Information
Description
Examples
Amount of information is a non-SI base dimension. The unit of amount of information is the bit.
Units of information take IEC prefixes, not SI prefixes. Thus, bytes is a kibibyte, not a kilobyte.
Maple knows the units of information listed in the following table.
Name
Symbols
Context
Alternate Spellings
Prefixes
bit
information *
bits
IEC
crumb
crumbs
nibble
nibbles nybble nybbles
byte
bytes
nickle
nickles
word
words
double_word
double_words
gawble
gawbles
block
blocks
bit_per_second
bps
bits_per_second
An asterisk ( * ) indicates the default context, an at sign (@) indicates an abbreviation, and under the prefixes column, SI indicates that the unit takes all SI prefixes, IEC indicates that the unit takes IEC prefixes, and SI+ and SI- indicate that the unit takes only positive and negative SI prefixes, respectively. Refer to a unit in the Units package by indexing the name or symbol with the context, for example, bit[information] or bps[information]; or, if the context is indicated as the default, by using only the unit name or symbol, for example, bit or bps.
The units of information are defined as follows.
A crumb is defined as bits.
A nibble is defined as bits.
A byte is defined as bits.
A nickle is defined as bits.
A word is defined as bits.
A double word is defined as bits.
A gawble is defined as bits.
A block is defined as bits.
A bit_per_second is defined as a bit per second. (This is a unit with dimension .)
See Also
convert/dimensions
convert/units
Units
Units/Index
Units[Prefixes]
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