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16-bit




Prominent 16-bit processors include the Intel 8086 , Motorola 68000 , Intel 80286 and the WDC 65C816 . The Motorola 68000 was 16-bit in that its data buses were 16 bits long; however, it was 32-bit in that the general purpose registers were 32 bits long and most arithmetic instructions supported 32-bit arithmetic, and 24-bit in that addresses were 24 bits long.

A 16-bit integer can store 2^{16} (or 65536) unique values. In an Unsigned representation, these values are the integers between 0 and 65535; using Two's Complement , possible values range from −32768 to 32767.

16-bit processors have been almost entirely supplanted in the Personal Computer industry, but remain in use in a wide variety of embedded applications.