Data Representation: Units

Question	Answer
Bit	A bit is a single unit of storage which acts as an electrical switch which detects electrical impulses. If there is one present then the switch is 'on', otherwise it is 'off'. A bit can hold either a 1 or a 0.
Nibble	4 Bits
Byte	8 Bits
Kilobyte	8,000 Bits 1,000 Bytes
Megabyte	8,000,000 Bits 1,000,000 Bytes 1,000 Kilobytes
Gigabyte	8,000,000,000 Bits 1,000,000,000 Bytes 1,000,000 Kilobytes 1,000 Megabytes
Terabyte	8,000,000,000,000 Bits 1,000,000,000,000 Bytes 1,000,000,000 Kilobytes 1,000,000 Megabytes 1,000 Gigabytes
Petabyte	8,000,000,000,000,000 Bits 1,000,000,000,000,000 Bytes 1,000,000,000,000 Kilobytes 1,000,000,000 Megabytes 1,000,000 Gigabytes 1,000 Terabytes
Why does data need to be converted into binary to be processed by computers?	-Computers function by receiving electrical impulses. These impulses are stored in singular units called bits. A bit can store one of two values: 1s or 0s. -It can be thought of as a switch, it can either be on if an impulse is present or off if it is not. If this electrical switch is on then the bit holds the value of 1 and if it is off then a 0 (usually). -Computers specifically use binary as it only has two bases (1s and 0s). This is needed as the 'switch' can only exist in two states: on or off. -To conclude, binary is a way of representing text, numbers, images etc. and it is needed because computers can only understand binary.

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	Created by Harbinn Kaur Mann about 5 years ago