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The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. 1 byte (B) = 8 bits (bit).Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer [1] [2] and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit of memory in many computer architectures.
An 8-bit register can store 2 8 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 8 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two most common representations, the range is 0 through 255 (2 8 − 1) for representation as an binary number, and −128 (−1 × 2 7) through 127 (2 7 − 1) for representation as two's complement.
The binary value of all eight bits set (or activated) is 11111111 2, equal to the hexadecimal value FF 16, the decimal value 255 10, and the octal value 377 8. One octet can be used to represent decimal values ranging from 0 to 255. The term octet (symbol: o [nb 1]) is often used when the use of byte might be ambiguous.
A system with 8 possible states, for example, can store up to log 2 8 = 3 bits of information. Other units that have been named include: Base b = 3 the unit is called "trit", and is equal to log 2 3 (≈ 1.585) bits. [3] Base b = 10 the unit is called decimal digit, hartley, ban, decit, or dit, and is equal to log 2 10 (≈ 3.322) bits. [2] [4 ...
One octet (in most cases one byte) is equal to eight bits and has 2 8 or 256 possible values, counting from 0 to 255. The number 256 often appears in computer applications (especially on 8-bit systems) such as:
In the early days of computing, it was used for differing numbers of bits based on convention and computer hardware design, but today means 8 bits. A more accurate, but less commonly used name for 8 bits is octet. Commonly, a decimal SI metric prefix (such as kilo-) is used with bit and byte to express larger sizes (kilobit, kilobyte). But ...
The ISQ symbols for the bit and byte are bit and B, respectively.In the context of data-rate units, one byte consists of 8 bits, and is synonymous with the unit octet.The abbreviation bps is often used to mean bit/s, so that when a 1 Mbps connection is advertised, it usually means that the maximum achievable bandwidth is 1 Mbit/s (one million bits per second), which is 0.125 MB/s (megabyte per ...
In information theory, one bit is the information entropy of a random binary variable that is 0 or 1 with equal probability, [3] or the information that is gained when the value of such a variable becomes known. [4] [5] As a unit of information or negentropy, the bit is also known as a shannon, [6] named after Claude E. Shannon.