Although bytes are much more useful for keeping track of memory than bits, they are still a little small for measuring larger entities, like disk space, file size, and memory capabilities. Some early floppy disks, for example, could hold 368,640 bytes of information. The numbers were getting too big for humans to handle easily. Computer scientists used kilobytes to measure these larger quantities. No doubt you are familiar with the metric system, and you know that a kilo represents a thousand. E.G. a kilogram = 1000 grams, a kilometer = 1000 meters. In computing, a kilobyte does not mean exactly one thousand. A kilobyte is 1024 bytes.
Why? It all goes back to the binary system. We like the number 1000 because it is easy to work with in base 10. Computers do not naturally work in base 10, but in base 2. 1000 decimal becomes 1111101000 in binary. This is obviously not a convenient number in binary. Fortunately, the binary value 10000000000 is very easy to work with in binary, and it works out to 1024 in decimal. This is close enough to 1000 decimal that we refer to 1024 bytes as a kilobyte. Kilobyte is often abbreviated K. The 368,640 byte disk we referred to before would be called a 360 K disk.
How many bits is it?
