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[Imported] Latency numbers: remove conversion to throughput #435

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@ido777 ido777 commented Apr 6, 2025

Imported from donnemartin/system-design-primer#427

Original author: @psanan


Remove conversion of latency numbers to throughput.

This is misleading for two reasons:

  1. Latency and throughput are not computable from each other. For example: if I know it takes 1 second to turn on the hose, get 1 liter of water, and turn it off, I cannot conclude that the maximum rate I can get water out of the hose is 1 liter per second (though I can conclude it's more than that).
  2. The throughput estimates seem suspect, in and of themselves. These are great numbers to know, of course, but need to be backed by a separate source. (This'll be extra important if and when this guide includes information about, say, GPUs, which are optimized for throughput).

Remove conversion of latency numbers to throughput.

This is misleading for two reasons:
1. Latency and throughput are not computable from each other. For example: if I know it takes 1 second to turn on the hose, get 1 liter of water, and turn it off, I cannot conclude that the maximum rate I can get water out of the hose is 1 liter per second (though I can conclude it's more than that). 
2. The throughput estimates seem suspect, in and of themselves. These are great numbers to know, of course, but need to be backed by a separate source. (This'll be extra important if and when this guide includes information about, say, GPUs, which are optimized for throughput).
@Copilot Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings April 6, 2025 20:39
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