timk@xenitec.on.ca (Tim Kuehn) (10/07/89)
js7a+@andrew.cmu.edu (James Price Salsman) writes: > >Each of the TDRS can handle users with data rates up to 300 >million bits per second. Assuming 8 bits of information per >word, this is the equivalent of 300, 14-volume sets of >encyclopedias every second. > >[Even if 8 bits per "word" were a reasonable assumption, >that would mean 8929 "words" per "volume" of Encyclopedia. >The Academic American Encyclopedia is orders of magnitude >larger than that.] Let's see here: 300 * 10^6 bits * 1 byte / 8 bits = 37.5 * 10^6 bytes 1 letter = 1 byte, so we have: 37.5 * 10^6 letters / 14 volumes = 2.68 * 10^6 letters / volume. Assuming an average of 8 letters / word, we then have: 2.68 * 10^6 letters / volume * 1 word / 8 letters = 334 * 10^3 words / volume or 334,821 words per volume - more than sufficient to fill an average volume in an "average" encyclopdia set (but certainly not 300 sets of encyclopedias!) A bit of mathematical trivia from.... +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Timothy D. Kuehn timk@xenitec | |TDK Consulting Services !watmath!xenitec!timk | |871 Victoria St. North, Suite 217A | |Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2B 3S4 (519)-741-3623 | |DOS/Xenix - SW/HW. uC, uP, DBMS. Satisfaction Guaranteed| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+