title: Real Memory VS. Private Memory
body: <p>I have an Objective-C application that is designed to run for an extended period of time using WebKit views. After time the application builds up a fair amount of memory so I would like to accurately reveal the memory usage to the end user upon request. In Activity Monitor on OS X I see two memory values for my application Real Memory and Private Memory. From what I have read Private is everything that the process has and Real is an estimate. What should I trust? Is there a specific formula I can use to calculate the exact usage rather than what OS X reports?</p>
  
  <p>Not my area of expertise. </p>