• 👍Maximum Derek👍@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 year ago

    An imperial unit (let’s remember we got this from the Brits who now say they’re metric… but are they?) is generally based on something in day-to-day life so they’re relevant. They would have probably been named in the late 40’s or early 50’s. So I suspect the they’d be based on ways data was transmitted then.

    • 4 taps (like on a telegraph) = 1 character
      • so 1 tap is 2 bits
    • 1 sheet (like paper) = 13,000 characters
      • so 1 sheet = 52,000 taps = 104,000 bits
    • … etc
    • 1 bankbox = 500 sheets = 26 million taps = 52 million bits

    edit: fixed my maths