Network Math: Bandwidth, Latency, Throughput & Transfer Time
Bits vs bytes and GiB, transfer times and the courier test, speed of light in fibre, bandwidth-delay product and TCP windows, the Mathis loss formula, header overhead and goodput, queueing delay and 95th-percentile WAN sizing: 8 labs on one fictional architecture firm.
The first lesson is free — no account needed.
About this course
A network math course that answers the bandwidth questions of one fictional architecture firm, Pinemoor Architects, in a spreadsheet, for IT and network administrators, help desk staff, networking students and anyone who wonders why a 1,000 Mbps line downloads at 119 MB/s. You convert Mbps into MB/s, GB per hour and GiB, calculate transfer times for backups and when shipping disks beats the network, work out propagation delay and the minimum RTT from the speed of light in fibre, calculate the bandwidth-delay product and the throughput cap of a TCP window, estimate how packet loss limits one flow with the Mathis formula, measure header overhead and goodput from IPv4 to jumbo frames, model link utilisation and queueing delay, and size a WAN link from 95th-percentile billing in a chart. The first lab is free.
Lessons
- Bits vs Bytes: Mbps, MB/s, GB and GiBFree
- Transfer Time for Files & Backups (and When a Courier Wins) Pro
- Propagation Delay & RTT from Distance (Speed of Light in Fibre) Pro
- Bandwidth-Delay Product & the TCP Window Limit Pro
- Packet Loss & Throughput: the Mathis Formula (Simplified) Pro
- Protocol Overhead & Goodput: Headers, MTU and Jumbo Frames Pro
- Link Utilisation & Queueing Delay (M/M/1, Simplified) Pro
- Sizing a WAN Link: 95th-Percentile Billing (Chart) Pro