Introduction to Bits, Bytes and Binary

Scroll down for some pirate lore and to learn about yottabytes - but first, some basics:

Kilobytes, Megabytes and Gigabytes

A "byte" is nothing more than a character (a letter, number or symbol), hence:
 

Bits, Bytes and Binary Code

A byte is a character (a single letter, number or symbol). Computers store all information as 0's or 1's, called "binary code". A bit is the name for a single 0 or 1.  Eight bits together in a standard combination make up one character, or byte.

A "bit" of pirate lore

Where did the term "bit" come from?

 

In the early Americas, small coins were in short supply.  It was a common practice to take a silver coin and cut it into 8 pieces (hence the "pieces of eight" of pirate fame).   Each piece was called a "bit", and two pieces (or a quarter of the original) were called "2 bits" - still a slang description for our modern quarter.

Hopefully this will help you remember that a bit is an 8th of a byte.

Beyond megabytes

If you really want to impress your friends:

byte 1 character** kilobyte 1,000 characters megabyte 1,000,000 characters gigabyte 1,000,000,000 characters terabyte 1,000,000,000,000 characters petabyte 1,000,000,000,000,000 characters exabyte 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 characters zettabyte 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 characters yottabyte 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 characters **A "character" is a letter, number, or symbol

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