Bps is for "bits per second"

The letters bps are short for bits per second. A byte (described earlier) is actually 8 bits. But that's not important. What's important is that unlike a byte, which is a measure of size, bps is a measure of speed. Simply stated, the higher the bps, the less time it takes. It's a lot like Miles per Hour (MPH) in that sense. Think how long it would take to get from New York to California in a car going 55MPH. Now think how long that same trip would take in a jet going 700MPH. Simply stated, the higher the MPH (or bps), the less time it takes.

As a rule, we use bps as a measure of the speed of getting data from one computer to another across a network (including the Internet). And we use "K" for a thousand, "M" for a million, and "G" for a billion, as usual. Table 5 sums it all up. The fourth column shows some alternative abbreviations. The rule-of-thumb is that an uppercase B always stands for "bytes" while a lowercase "b" always stands for "bits per second".

Abbreviation	Spoken	Bits per Second	(English)	Alternative Abbreviations
Kbps	Kilobits	1,000	Thousand	Kb or Kbits
Mbps	Megabits	1,000,000	Million	Mb or Mbits
Gbps	Gigabits	1,000,000,000	Billion	Gb or Gbits

Table 5

T he most common use for the bps measurements is in types of Internet accounts. To give you a sense of how the speeds relate to one another in terms of "wait time", Table 6 compares the amount of time it would take to download (copy) a 1MB file from a computer on the Internet to your own computer. (Since a byte is equal to 8 bits, a 1 MB file is roughly 8,000,000 bits.) Also, I'm using "Broadband" as a general term for Cable and DSL accounts, which are actually available in speeds ranging from about 256 Kbps to 1,000 Kbps. Note, too, that 1,000 Kbps is the same as 1 Mbps.

Account type	Speed	Bits per Second	Time to download 1MB
Dial-up	56 Kbps	56,000	143 seconds
ISDN	128 Kbps	128,000	63 seconds
Broadband	1 Mbps	1,000,000	8 seconds
T1	1.5 Mbps	1,500,000	5 seconds

Table 6

So there you have it. To summarize, K, M, and G are all abbreviations for numbers:

• K = Thousand (1,000)

• M = Million (1,000,000)

• G = Billion (1,000,000,000)

The letters that come after are either a measure of size or capacity, or a measure of speed, as follows:

• B = Bytes or "how much" information.

• bps (or b) = "bits per second" or "how fast across some wire"

• Hz = Hertz of "how many calculations can be done in one second"

You're becoming dangerously close to be a full-fledged computer nerd here...

Alan Simpson

/www.coolnerds.com/

1. What is represented by K.M.G? Name an approximate number each represents?

2. In what way do computers store information? Does the stored information have any meaning to the computer?

3. What is a Byte?

4. Where can one check the size of a file?

5. Does the system of measurement differ if we speak about text file and media file?

6. How much “stuff” can one store on a disk?

7. What does bps stand for?

Exercise 10. Find Russian equivalents for the following words and word combinations from the text:

to fill with a simple pattern to stick something per se to take up space a double-spaced page to assume accurate to refer to multimedia capacity of a disc to give perspective on something

across a network to sum it up the rule-of-thumb a type of Internet accounts to download Cable account DSL account Dial-up account ISDN account Broadband account bits per second full-fledged

Exercise 11. Find in the text English equivalents for the following words and word combinations:

сокращение представлять сленг приблизительный игнорировать скучный предыдущий умножать в случае если… гений человеческий мозг странный абстрактный хранить

место для хранения занимать место основная единица измерения символ заглавная буква обозначать вычислить ориентироваться в папках вместимость, емкость различаться скорость сеть колебаться в пределах

Exercise 12: State whether it is true or false. Correct the false statements, if any.

1. Each time you go to from K to M to G, you stick another ,000 onto the end of the preceding number.

2. Each of the letters ‘K’, ‘M’, ‘G’ stands for a thousand.

3. Information either in our head or in books or computers takes up space to be stored.

4. In a computer, the basic "unit" of measure is a byte, which is the amount of space it takes to store one character.

5. But Windows always shows the file sizes in kilobytes (KB) just to keep all the numbers on the same scale.

6. Exactly how much "stuff" you can get on a disk depends on the capacity of the disk.

7. The rule-of-thumb is that an uppercase B always stands for "bits" while a lowercase "b" always stands for "bytes"per second.

Exercise 13: Read the outline given below, sum up the contents of the text. Try to avoid informal speech.

1. The definition of the term ‘data storage’

2. The storage of information

1. the forms of information storage

2. the capacity of different discs

3. the units for information storage

1. The speed of information

1. the definition of the measure of speed

2. the units of the measure