I suppose that it's sort of like the amount of usable storage of
any magnetic disk, optical disk, or flash memory card.
Ever notice how much is actually available to the user for storing
files on a "1.44MB" formatted 3.5" floppy? And if I recall
correctly, those floppies were first marketed as having "2MB"
(small print: unformatted) capacity.
For an even better example, my PC has 512MB of memory, but I've
never had that much available for actual use by applications with
the MS Windows (or any other) operating system running. And of
course the operating system files take up some space on my hard
drive too, so even its "formatted" capacity isn't fully available
for my use.
The 48 series also have somewhat less than the specified memory
capacity actually available for the user.
Face it, sellers will tell us the best-sounding specs that they
can get away with, and either put the less fortunate details
somewhere inconspicuous, or neglect mentioning them.
They aren't exactly "lying"; that capacity really is built in to
the calculator, although since it isn't all available to the user,
it does seem rather "misleading".
Regards,
James
Edited: 2 Oct 2005, 4:09 p.m.