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From: johnbl@tekig5.UUCP (John Blankenagel)
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: more cells than atoms?
Message-ID: <31@tekig5.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 20-Dec-84 11:38:25 EST
Article-I.D.: tekig5.31
Posted: Thu Dec 20 11:38:25 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 23-Dec-84 01:14:44 EST
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 13



>  In discussing addresses larger than 32 bits, remember that those extra
>  bits pile up additional memory awfully fast.

>  To build a computer with 48-bit addresses and to give it 2**48 memory
>  cells, you would need more cells than there are atoms in the Earth.
>  Addresses bigger than 48 bits are probably not worthwhile, unless you
>  need a discontiguous (sparse) address space.


Lets see.  (2**48)*48=1.35E16.  There are 2.15E22 atoms in a gram of
silicon.  So much for that theory.