Throughput

Throughput tells you how much work a system completes in a given amount of time. It is found by dividing the total number of completed operations by the time taken, so a larger number of operations or a shorter time both increase the rate. This works because throughput is a rate: it measures "how many per unit time" rather than the total amount alone.

Use this formula when you want to measure the speed of a computer system, network, or process, such as how many files are processed per second or how many transactions a server handles per minute. It is especially useful for comparing performance between different systems or checking whether a system meets a target rate.

• Using the start time and end time separately instead of the elapsed time
• Forgetting to keep the units consistent, such as mixing milliseconds and seconds
• Confusing throughput with latency, which measures time per operation rather than operations per time