Which statement about bandwidth is true?

Which statement about bandwidth is true?

• A. It only refers to data rates
• B. It only refers to frequencies
• C. It can refer to either frequencies or data rates
• D. It refers to error rate

Answer: (C)

Bandwidth is used in two common ways in communications. In the frequency domain, it means the width of the spectrum a signal occupies or a channel supports, measured in Hz (kHz, MHz, etc.). In data communications, bandwidth is also used to describe how much data can be transmitted per second, i.e., the data rate in bits per second. Both meanings are standard, so the statement that bandwidth can refer to either frequencies or data rates is correct. For example, a radio channel with a 5 kHz bandwidth occupies a 5 kHz slice of the spectrum. A network link described as 100 Mbps bandwidth is talking about its data-carrying capacity, not a frequency width. The two ideas are related—larger frequency bandwidth can enable higher data rates, under the right conditions, but bandwidth itself is not an error rate.

Bandwidth is used in two common ways in communications. In the frequency domain, it means the width of the spectrum a signal occupies or a channel supports, measured in Hz (kHz, MHz, etc.). In data communications, bandwidth is also used to describe how much data can be transmitted per second, i.e., the data rate in bits per second. Both meanings are standard, so the statement that bandwidth can refer to either frequencies or data rates is correct.

For example, a radio channel with a 5 kHz bandwidth occupies a 5 kHz slice of the spectrum. A network link described as 100 Mbps bandwidth is talking about its data-carrying capacity, not a frequency width. The two ideas are related—larger frequency bandwidth can enable higher data rates, under the right conditions, but bandwidth itself is not an error rate.