From the course: Computer Science Principles: Digital Information
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Bit size and values
From the course: Computer Science Principles: Digital Information
Bit size and values
- With binary numbers, we can store values that we would ordinarily represent in decimal. In a format that the computer can store, send or receive. But as we think about values, the more digits that are in the number, the larger the value can be. So, let's take this binary number, one, zero. This is a two bit digit. Meaning that it contains two digits. Each one being a bit, a one or a zero. This two bit number can store four different values and has a maximum value of three. As we add additional digits, we increase the maximum value we can store in that binary number. Have you heard the term eight bit? Eight bit, 16 bit, 32 bit, 64 bit and higher, these are all representations of the number of digits that are available to store in a binary number. If we look at a eight bit number, we have eight columns, or eight possible digits. If we do the math for each column, we can store a maximum value of 255. If we add zero, which is a value of nothing, we can store a total of 256 values, from…
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