Final answer:
The Sloan Survey had a data transfer rate of 8 megabytes per second, and by calculating the number of pages based on the words that can be transferred, we find that the disk can transfer approximately 2949 pages per second.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question pertains to the data transfer rate of a disk, specifically in the context of how many pages it can transfer per second. To compute this, we will use the data transfer rate provided by the Sloan Survey. The Sloan Survey recorded data at a rate of 8 megabytes per second (8 MB/s). Since one MB is 1024 kilobytes (KB), and one KB is approximately equal to 180 English words, we can calculate the number of pages based on an average number of words per page.
First, we convert megabytes to kilobytes: 8 MB * 1024 = 8192 KB per second. If one KB is roughly 180 words, then 8192 KB is equivalent to 8192 KB * 180 words/KB = 1,474,560 words per second. Assuming an average full page contains about 500 words, we can then calculate the number of pages by dividing the words per second by the number of words per page: 1,474,560 words per second / 500 words/page = 2949.12 pages per second.
Therefore, the disk can transfer approximately 2949 pages each second, which illustrates the remarkable speed of modern data processing and the vast amounts of information that can be handled