Tag Archives: interesting facts

Commonly Misused Proverbs

Jun 21, 2012 by Matt | Posted in Featured, General No Comments

It’s interesting how commonly-used aphorisms eventually become used in a context opposite to their actual meaning. One particularly egregious example is the phrase “it’s just a few bad apples,” frequently used to defend a group or organization from the actions of a few. Variations of that theme are a staple of modern political rhetoric.

The correct aphorism, which you have doubtlessly heard a few times in your life, goes “one bad apple spoils the barrel.” The reason? Because when an apple over-ripens and spoils, it produces ethylene, which acts as a ripening agent and causes the other apples in the container to go bad as well.

So when you try to defend a group by referencing the “bad apples” analogy, you are in fact supporting the argument that the organization is rotten.

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What is a Kibibyte?

Mar 5, 2012 by Matt | Posted in General No Comments

If there are eight bits in a byte, how many bytes are there in a kilobyte? If you’re familiar with computers, you might say 1,024, while someone who is less so may say 1,000. Who is right?

Surprisingly, the person who answered 1,000 would be correct.

Historically, there were 1,024 bytes in a kilobyte. That created a problem, though. The Latin-derived kilo, mega and giga prefixes refer to base-ten numbers, which means using them for binary denominations would conflict with the SI/metric system. So in 1999 the International Electrotechnical Commission defined the kilobyte and its siblings as being base ten, introducing a new system for binary units.

Enter the kibibyte.

A kibibyte (abbreviated as KiB) is 1,024 bytes. The equivalent to a megabyte (106) is the mebibyte (220) and the gigabyte (109) is the gibibyte (230).

What does this mean for you? Nothing, probably. Unless you’re doing some programming work where specificity is very important, or dealing with very large amounts of data, measuring data in base ten is perfectly sensible. Hard disk manufacturers have been doing it for years, and some operating systems now even use base ten units. Apple has done it since Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6), though I think Microsoft may still use base two while labeling the numbers incorrectly. Most Linux distributions use base two, though they usually label the values with the proper suffix.

Anyway, it’s certainly interesting. It reminds me of another bit of numerical confusion. Network speeds are usually measured and advertised in megabits per second, as bytes aren’t really relevant to the “tubes,” and its not uncommon for sub-byte chunks of data to be sent down the line. Meanwhile, a lot of software displays the speed of downloads in megabytes per second instead. This creates confusing situations occasionally. (Convention is to use a lower-case “m” for megabits and a capital one for megabytes.)

Learning Curve: It isn’t What You Think it is

Jan 27, 2012 by Matt | Posted in Blogging 3 Comments

How many times have you heard the phrase “it has a steep learning curve” in reference to something that is supposed to be difficult? This commonly-used phrase sounds good, but isn’t really logical. Because it’s wrong.

A “learning curve” is a visual device used to illustrate the average rate of learning for a skill or tool. Essentially, it is a line chart that shows the learner’s level of proficiency and how it changes over time.

Take a look at the two following charts. The first one illustrates a steep learning curve, while the second shows a more gradual slope. If you take a look at the labels on the axes, you’ll note that the steep curve shows the “knowledge” unit is increasing at a faster rate. That means something with a steep learning curve is easier than something with a gradual slope. Make sense?

I know I’ve been guilty of misusing this term in the past, but have been making an effort to avoid it more recently. It’s a good thing to word around when you’re writing, as using it in the correct context is likely to do nothing but cause confusion at this point. (At least, for general audiences. Depending on your niche, your readers might understand.)