![]() Software is the secret sauce that takes bits and bytes and translates them so that more information can be represented by zeros and ones. Bytes allow computers to calculate faster since the byte is more complex information that just a single bit. Combining eight bits together creates a byte consisting of eight bits. This is what a byte does for a computer, it combines more than one place, or bit, to create a combination of zeros and ones that represent a larger number. Add more places and it's possible to create larger numbers to be used in calculations. Since we're talking bits, 10 is not 10, but the rules of counting with zero and one, called the binary number system, tell us that 10, in decimal numbers, is the number 2. Then you create a combination of two digits which can be either zeros or ones. Since bits can only be zeros or ones (off and on to a computer), to count beyond 1, another digit is necessary. In our familiar decimal counting system using 0 through 9, when you count to ten you need to add a second digit. Since one digit is a bit of information, like a zero or one, more than one digit of information creates what's called a byte of information. Since a computer can change a bit from a zero to one and back again so fast, it's able to perform calculations without even knowing that there's a number larger than 1. ![]() To a computer's way of thinking a binary number is a bit, and it calculates using combinations of bits. ![]() The 10 possible ways to write a single piece of information, 0, 1,2,3,4, 5, 6, 7, 8,and 9 represent the 10 digits.Ĭombine more than one decimal place, and you've got a lot of possible number combinations. You're most familiar with using a decimal system, where a single digit can be 0 through 9. Computers can turn many switches on and off at a single time, which is why it can count faster than your fingers by using light switches.Ĭomputers (and when I say computers I mean any type of computing device) use this system of counting with only two numbers, called binary because a number can only be a zero or a one. In fact, computers use miniature circuits, which are actually tiny switches. The number one represents the switch when it is on the zero represents the switch when it is off. You can think of these values as the position of a switch. Digital computers use data in which each piece of information has a value of one or zero. Manufacturers of networking equipment always useġ000-bit kilobits as their basic unit of measurement.The terms bit and byte refer to the value of information used on a computer. In computer networking the conventional SI decimal units are followed. While computer operating systems usually calculate drive/file/RAM size in binary gigabytes (2 30). Whether values are calculated using the decimal or binary systems depends on the context.įor example, most hard disk drive and flash-memory manufacturers define 1 gigabyte as a million bytes (decimal gigabyte, 10 9), ![]() However, the terms Bytes, Megabytes and Gigabytes are often used ambiguously. This conversion calculator rounds all values to 9 significant digits.īecause of computer architecture and memory address boundaries, bytes are usually some multiple or exponent of two. Notes: Keep in mind in data communication 1 kilobit = 1000 bits, while in data storage 1 Kilobyte = 1024 Bytes.
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