8 ms·

They should switch to logarithmic scale and just say "an order-21 time interval". These "zepto" prefixes are gibberish.

by ry454 6y ago

Bud 6y ago
Not gibberish at all, in my opinion. They were carefully and creatively chosen, and derived in many cases from logical linguistic sources. I think it's just that we are used to milli- and micro- and nano-, but actual usage of "zepto" has been basically nil until now. But that will change. On the other side, we're all very used to mega- and giga- and tera-, and for data center folks, peta- as well, and we'll adapt to the higher-order prefixes as they enter more common use.
- benatkin 6y ago
  Monday is exascale day. https://www.exascaleproject.org/ https://www.exascaleproject.org/
  - benatkin 6y ago
    Correction: it's Sunday (today)
- LeifCarrotson 6y ago
  Sure, but those are much smaller exponents than 21. I can see "peta" coming into use as storage sizes change, just as "kilo" has already disappeared from your list, but asking folks to keep track of 14 different prefixes is a little much. If it's outside of +/-9, I'd support the use of an exponent.
  - amcoastal 6y ago
    I like this for writing but its much easier to say a prefix.
  - gruturo 6y ago
    We use Zepta every time we discuss ZFS.
    - _Microft 6y ago
      I think you meant to write "Zetta" there.
  - Bud 6y ago
    Remember that it's not 14 prefixes, or at least not 14 new ones. We're just talking about a couple new ones. There's only a new prefix for every three orders of magnitude, and everyone is already very familiar with the small ones. And there are mnemonics. And we're not asking the layman to know all these, either. Zepto- will never be in common use; that's for particle physicists and basically nobody else, so far at least. Everyone already knows 10^12=tera, so we're covered there.
    - LeifCarrotson 6y ago
      -21, -18, -15, -12, -9, -6, -3, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21 is 14 prefixes. I think the number of people who could (correctly!) name even half of those is much smaller than you think.
      - danbruc 6y ago
        You are missing - 24, -2, -1, 1, 2, and 24 for a total of 20.
        cyphar 6y ago
        ±1 doesn't require a prefix, and while in Europe "deci" is used in common parlance for units of power ±2 it's not really used in scientific or engineering terminology globally. I'm also not sure what real quantity you're referring to which requires the power ±24 prefix (yes, the term "yottabyte" exists but no measurement of data capacity uses it).
        danbruc 6y ago
        ±2 are centi and hecto with centimetre and hectopascal probably being the widest used ones, ±1 are deci and deca with decibel probably being the widest used one. For deca I can also not think of any real usage.
      - Avamander 6y ago
        Yeah, but the number of people who actually need to use those units do know how to name them.
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Avamander 6y ago
No they shouldn't, it's not rest of the world's fault that you use the imperial system and don't learn decimal prefixes.

They should switch to logarithmic scale and just say "an order-21 time interval". These "zepto" prefixes are gibberish.

by ry454 6y ago

They should switch to logarithmic scale and just say "an order-21 time interval". These "zepto" prefixes are gibberish.

Bud 6y ago

Not gibberish at all, in my opinion. They were carefully and creatively chosen, and derived in many cases from logical linguistic sources. I think it's just that we are used to milli- and micro- and nano-, but actual usage of "zepto" has been basically nil until now. But that will change. On the other side, we're all very used to mega- and giga- and tera-, and for data center folks, peta- as well, and we'll adapt to the higher-order prefixes as they enter more common use.

benatkin 6y ago
Monday is exascale day. https://www.exascaleproject.org/ https://www.exascaleproject.org/
- benatkin 6y ago
  Correction: it's Sunday (today)
LeifCarrotson 6y ago
Sure, but those are much smaller exponents than 21. I can see "peta" coming into use as storage sizes change, just as "kilo" has already disappeared from your list, but asking folks to keep track of 14 different prefixes is a little much. If it's outside of +/-9, I'd support the use of an exponent.
- amcoastal 6y ago
  I like this for writing but its much easier to say a prefix.
- gruturo 6y ago
  We use Zepta every time we discuss ZFS.
  - _Microft 6y ago
    I think you meant to write "Zetta" there.
- Bud 6y ago
  Remember that it's not 14 prefixes, or at least not 14 new ones. We're just talking about a couple new ones. There's only a new prefix for every three orders of magnitude, and everyone is already very familiar with the small ones. And there are mnemonics. And we're not asking the layman to know all these, either. Zepto- will never be in common use; that's for particle physicists and basically nobody else, so far at least. Everyone already knows 10^12=tera, so we're covered there.
  - LeifCarrotson 6y ago
    -21, -18, -15, -12, -9, -6, -3, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21 is 14 prefixes. I think the number of people who could (correctly!) name even half of those is much smaller than you think.
    - danbruc 6y ago
      You are missing - 24, -2, -1, 1, 2, and 24 for a total of 20.
      - cyphar 6y ago
        ±1 doesn't require a prefix, and while in Europe "deci" is used in common parlance for units of power ±2 it's not really used in scientific or engineering terminology globally. I'm also not sure what real quantity you're referring to which requires the power ±24 prefix (yes, the term "yottabyte" exists but no measurement of data capacity uses it).
        danbruc 6y ago
        ±2 are centi and hecto with centimetre and hectopascal probably being the widest used ones, ±1 are deci and deca with decibel probably being the widest used one. For deca I can also not think of any real usage.
    - Avamander 6y ago
      Yeah, but the number of people who actually need to use those units do know how to name them.

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Avamander 6y ago

No they shouldn't, it's not rest of the world's fault that you use the imperial system and don't learn decimal prefixes.