FISHER@RPICICGE.BITNET ("John S. Fisher") (06/23/88)
A subtile point lost in the bit/baud discussions is the 'bps' refers to the
data transfer rate; 'baud' refers to a signaling rate. Modem-to-modem
signaling rates and data transfer rates are not the same for high-speed modems.
The definition I first learned for 'baud' was that it is the reciprocal of the
of the shortest unit of time used in signaling.
And saying that
300 baud x 1 bit/baud = 300 bps
is a perfectly reasonable expression given that 1 bit/baud is the
characteristic of the modem. You could just as easily say
300 baud x 1/10 chars/baud = 30 chars/sec
Or, for that matter
75 baud x 1/7.5 chars/baud = 10 chars/sec
(Good 'ol Baudot, don't you know :-)