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Bits and Bytes

What is inside a microprocessor? It contains millions oMicro Chipf transistors that act as switches to open or close electric circuits called gates. Computers use these electrical circuits to represent numbers. For example, a switch may be either on or off. Let’s say when the switch is off, it  represents "0" and when the switch is on it represents "1." One switch can store a single "bit" of binary information. There are only the numbers "0" and "1" instead of the numbers 1 through 10 that we use in our regular math. A group of eight "bits" of information together form a byte.

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How many number combinations (codes) are in a byte?

Base 10 Base 2

Binary Switches

0 = 00000000 Switches
1 = 00000001 Switches
2 = 00000010 Switches
3 = 00000011 Switches

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28 = 256 codes in a byte

Each one of these codes can mean a number, a letter, a punctuation mark, or other symbols.

X = Switches
Y = Switches

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Intel’s Pentium II is a 64-bit microprocessor. How many codes can you store in 64 bits?

Estimate the answer:

ans_a.gif (231 bytes) Less than 1,000 codes
ans_b.gif (220 bytes) Between 1,000 and 10,000 codes
ans_c.gif (227 bytes) Over 10,000 codes

 

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