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A bit refers to a Digit in the Binary Numeral System ( Base 2). For example, the number 1001011 is 7 bits long. Binary digits are almost always used as the basic unit of Information Storage and Communication in digital Computing and digital Information Theory . Information theory also often uses the natural digit, called either a '' Nit '' or a '' Nat ''. Quantum Computing also uses Qubit s, a single piece of information with a probability of being true. The bit is also a unit of measurement, the information capacity of one binary digit. It has the symbol bit, and less formally '''b''' (see discussion below). The unit is also known as the '''shannon''', with symbol '''Sh'''. BINARY DIGIT '', George Dyson , 1997. ISBN 0-201-40649-7 A bit is like a light switch; it can be either on or off. A single bit is a one or a zero, a true or a false, a "flag" which is "on" or "off", or in general, the quantity of information required to distinguish two mutually exclusive '' State s'' from each other. The bit is the smallest unit of storage currently used in computing. UNIT The bit, as a unit of information, is the amount of information carried by a choice between two equally likely outcomes. It is the capacity of one binary digit. One bit corresponds to about 0.693 Nat s (ln(2)), or 0.301 Hartley s (log10(2)). The name bit is mostly used when discussing data capacity, emphasising the storage of data as individual binary digits. The name '''shannon''', referring to the same unit, is mostly used when discussing information content, emphasising aggregate information quantity. ABBREVIATION/SYMBOL No uniform agreement has been reached yet about what the official unit symbols for bit and Byte should be. One commonly-quoted standard, the International Electrotechnical Commission 's IEC 60027 , specifies that "bit" should be the unit symbol for the unit bit (e.g. "kbit" for kilobit), but it does not yet define any symbol for the unit byte. The other commonly-quoted relevant standard, IEEE 1541 , specifies "b" to be the unit symbol for bit and "B" to be that for byte. This convention is also widely used in computing, but has so far not been considered acceptable internationally for several reasons:
The unit bel is rarely used by itself (only as decibel, "dB"), so the chances of conflict with "B" for byte are quite small, even though both units are very commonly used in the same fields (e.g., telecommunication). The combination of the symbols "bit" for bit and "B" for byte is also widely used in computing, and is perhaps least ambiguous. It is proposed, for example, in Aubrey Jaffer's Metric Interchange Format . MORE THAN ONE BIT A Byte is a collection of bits, originally variable in size but now almost always eight bits. Eight-bit bytes, also known as '' Octet s'', can represent 256 values (28 values, 0–255). A four-bit quantity is known as a '' Nibble '', and can represent 16 values (24 values, 0–15). " Word " is a term for a slightly larger group of bits, but it has no standard size. It represents the size of one register in a Computer - CPU . In the IA-32 architecture, 16 bits are called a "word" (with 32 bits being a Double Word or dword), but other architectures have word sizes of 8, 32, 64, 80 or others. Terms for large quantities of bits can be formed using the standard range of prefixes, e.g., Kilo bit ( Kbit ), Mega bit ( Mbit ) and Giga bit ( Gbit ). Note that much confusion exists regarding these units and their abbreviations (see above). Certain Bitwise computer Processor instructions (such as Xor ) operate at the level of manipulating bits rather than manipulating data interpreted as an aggregate of bits. Telecommunications or Computer Network transfer rates are usually described in terms of Bits Per Second (not to be confused with Baud ). SEE ALSO NOTES |
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