1.1.1 Units of Data and Representing Numbers

Bit

The smallest unit of data in computers, represented as either 1 or 0.

Nibble

Half a byte, consisting of 4 bits;

Byte

Contains 8 bits, used to represent data in computer systems.

Binary Prefix (Base-2)

Prefixes based on powers of 2 used to calculate data size in binary units.

Decimal Prefix (Base-10)

Prefixes based on powers of 10 used to calculate data size in decimal units.

Denary

Base 10 numbering system using numbers 0-9, increasing by powers of 10 from right to left.

Binary

Base 2 numbering system used in computers 1’s and 0’s, doubling in value from right to left.

Hexadecimal

Base 16 numbering system using numbers 0-9 and letters A-F

Binary Coded Decimal

A binary system using 4 bits to represent a denary digit, useful for precision and easier conversion to denary.

Kibibyte

Binary storage measurement, stores 1024 bytes and is 2^10

Mebibyte

Binary Storage measurement, stores 1,048,576 bytes and is 2^20

Gibibyte

Binary storage measurement, stores 1,073,741,824 bytes and is 2^30

Tebibyte

Binary storage measurement, stores 1,099,511,627,776 bytes and is 2^40

Kilobyte

Decimal storage measurement, stores 1,000 bytes and is 10³

Megabyte

Decimal storage measurement, stores 1,000,000 bytes and is 10^6

Gigabyte

Decimal storage measurement, stores 1,000,000,000 bytes and is 10^9

Terabyte

Decimal storage measurement, stores 1,000,000,000,000 bytes and is 10^12