Weekly Classic Computer Trivia Question (20141205)

[Chuck Guzis]

On 12/06/2014 06:55 PM, Noel Chiappa wrote:
>      > From: Jerome H. Fine
>
>      > I would point out that one reason that memory may have stayed with 2 **
>      > 30 is that memory is usually produced and sold in multiples of 2 ** 30
>      > these days
>
> Main memory has pretty much _always_ been sold in blocks that were exact
> powers of two, for obvious reasons (at least, powers of two of the word size
> of the machine in question)...

Let's see; IBM 1620--basic memory size=20,000 digits, increments of 
20,000 digits up to 60,000.  IBM 705, 7080,...

What is curious is the marketing numbers used for the memory size.  65K, 
131K, etc.  I believe IBM was guilty of this in their S/360 marketing 
literature.

The numbers sound bigger.

--Chuck