how to read top output correctly

[Michael Schwendt]

On Sun, 2 Mar 2008 06:11:41 -0600, lostson wrote:

> 
>  Hello all I have a interesting question I use top in a terminal all the time and was wondering the proper way to read the memory usage in it. For instance currently my top says this 
> 
>  Mem:   1034948k total,  1008860k used,    26088k free,    96856k buffers

You cut off the relevant second line of the memory usage. With only
this line you cannot see where the missing memory is used.

Btw, this is a FAQ in many places for many years.