Which statement correctly describes the kilo prefixes for throughput and storage?

Which statement correctly describes the kilo prefixes for throughput and storage?

• A. Throughput kilo equals 1024; Storage kilo equals 1000
• B. Throughput kilo equals 1000; Storage kilo equals 1024
• C. Throughput kilo equals 1000; Storage kilo equals 1000
• D. Throughput kilo equals 1024; Storage kilo equals 1024

Answer: (B)

Different kilo prefixes come from different contexts: in throughput (speed) the prefix follows SI and uses decimal scaling, so 1 kilo equals 1000 units. In storage, traditional units are based on powers of two, so 1 kilo (kilobyte) equals 1024 bytes. Because of this distinction, the kilo used for throughput is 1000, while the kilo used for storage is 1024. That makes the statement that throughput kilo equals 1000 and storage kilo equals 1024 the best match. Reversing them would ignore the common speed-as-decimal convention, and treating both as 1000 or both as 1024 ignores the historical binary basis for storage measurements. For example, network speeds like 1 Gbps are interpreted as 1000 Mbps, while a file size of about 1 KB is 1024 bytes in binary storage terms.

Different kilo prefixes come from different contexts: in throughput (speed) the prefix follows SI and uses decimal scaling, so 1 kilo equals 1000 units. In storage, traditional units are based on powers of two, so 1 kilo (kilobyte) equals 1024 bytes. Because of this distinction, the kilo used for throughput is 1000, while the kilo used for storage is 1024. That makes the statement that throughput kilo equals 1000 and storage kilo equals 1024 the best match. Reversing them would ignore the common speed-as-decimal convention, and treating both as 1000 or both as 1024 ignores the historical binary basis for storage measurements. For example, network speeds like 1 Gbps are interpreted as 1000 Mbps, while a file size of about 1 KB is 1024 bytes in binary storage terms.