On 1-9-2015 15:24, scott wrote:
>> OK. I missed the 8 cores obviously. it makes sense, but
>>
>> Still, I feel uncomfortable with the notion itself and would rather
>> think that povray is rendering at 100%, divided over 8 cores... each
>> working at 100%... for me, that does not add up to 800%, only to faster
>> rendering, which is why I guess this is a semantic question.
>
> Yes, typically % is defined as % of some (obvious) maximum. Defining CPU
> load as a % of only 1 core being fully loaded seems a bit
> counter-intuitive. But so long as everyone is aware of this, and they
> know exactly how many cores are in the CPU then it shouldn't be a huge
> problem. If we didn't know there were 8 cores, 800% could mean anything.
>
> Also, in general, when you combine percentages from various bits you
> need to sum the numerators and denominators separately, otherwise you
> get a wrong result.
>
> eg
>
> Bag 1 has 6 apples out of space for 10 : 6/10 = 60% full
> Bag 2 has 3 apples out of space for 4  : 3/4  = 75% full
>
> Combined there are 9 apples out of space for 14, so 64% full. NOT 135%
> full!
>

Thanks indeed. That sums it up nicely :-)

The case of Ger's which triggered my thread is pretty obvious and 
acceptable in the context. However, the misuse nowadays in all kinds of 
situations seems to be growing and can be pretty annoying sometimes.

-- 
Thomas

Post a reply to this message