Computer number format: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 05:53, 17 February 2021

Revision as of 17:30, 18 February 2021

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While a single bit, on its own, is able to represent only two values, a [[Bit string|string of bits]] may be used to represent larger values. For example, a string of three bits can represent up to eight distinct values as illustrated in Table 1.

As the number of bits composing a string increases, the number of possible ''0'' and ''1'' combinations increases [[Exponentiation|exponentially]]. A single bit allows only two value-combinations, two bits combined can make four separate values, three bits for eight, and so on, increasing with the formula 2^n. The amount of possible ombinationscombinations doubles with each binary digit added as illustrated in Table 2.

Groupings with a specific number of bits are used to represent varying things and have specific names.