• 8 bytes are how many bits. Units for measuring the amount of information. Is there more?

    Binary digit, binary number in English Bi naryDigi t. From the three letters of these words they formed a sonorous word bit, which was already in English (bit– piece, piece). In computer science it has the same meaning as Bi naryDigi t, but they also added a new meaning to it.

    A bit is a unit of information and a unit of representation of information in a computer.

    A bit (one digit of a binary number) can take two values: 0 or 1. In decimal numbers, one digit can take values ​​from 0 to 9. If the number is single-digit (one-bit), then 0 or 1 is the value of the number and the digits of the number that are in in this case they coincide.

    Since a computer can only process binary numbers, information can only be encoded in binary numbers. In this case, we can say that the alphabet used to encode information consists of two symbols (numbers) 0 and 1.

    A single-digit binary number, i.e. one bit, can encode only two characters, since it takes only two values ​​- 0 or 1. And a single-digit decimal number will allow us to encode 10 characters, because it can have 10 values ​​- from 0 to 9 .

    Now we use two-digit numbers for encoding. Then in the decimal number system we can use numbers from 0 to 99 to encode, i.e. 100 numbers. And we can encode 100 characters, 10 times more than when encoding with single-digit numbers.

    A similar pattern occurs with increasing bit depth of binary numbers. We can encode 4 characters with a two-digit binary number, since there are also 4 possible numbers: 00, 01, 10, 11, i.e., twice as many as with a single-digit number. You can check that a three-bit binary number can encode 2 times more characters than a two-bit number. Generalizing this pattern, we get a simple formula for determining the number of characters S, which can be encoded n– bit binary numbers:

    S = 2 n

    Binaryn-a digit number that is used to encode information in a computer is calledbyte .

    This definition also implies another definition of a byte:

    Byte - a unit of information processing in a computer, since by the value of a byte you can find out which character is encoded by it.

    If other n-bit binary numbers are used for encoding, then they must be taken as multiples of a byte.

    The byte first had 6, then 7 digits (bits), and now it is equal to 8 bits.

    One of the translation meanings of English words bit Andbite – piece. Considering a piece to be part of the whole, a bit is indeed part of a binary number. If a byte encodes letters and symbols from which words are constructed, then the byte also expresses part of a word.

    Bytes are also used to measure the amount of memory, RAM and external, and file sizes. But in this case larger units of measurement are used. For example, Kilobytes (KB), Megabytes (MB), Gigabytes (GB), Terabytes (TB):

    1 KB = 1024 bytes = 2 10 bytes

    1 MB = 1024 KB = 2 10 KB

    1 GB = 1024 MB = 2 10 MB

    1 TB = 1024 GB = 2 10 GB

    Encoding integers and real numbers

    Integer numbers are encoded in binary quite simply - just take an integer and divide it in half until the remainder is zero or one. The resulting division result is again divided in the same way. And we continue this division procedure until the result of division is less than 2. The set of remainders from each division, written from right to left together with the last remainder, forms the binary analogue of a decimal number.

    19:2 = 9 + 1 9:2=4+1 4:2=2+0 2:2 = 1

    Thus, 19 10 = 1011 2.

    To encode integers from 0 to 255, it is enough to have 8 bits of binary code (8 bits). Sixteen bits allow you to encode integers from 0 to 65,535, and 24 bits allow you to encode more than 16.5 million different values.

    To encode real numbers, 80-bit encoding is used. In this case, the number is first converted to normalized form:

    3,1415926 = 0,31415926-10 1

    300 000 = 0,3-10 6

    123 456 789 = 0,123456789 10 1 /

    The first part of the number is called mantissa, and the second - characteristic. Most of the 80 bits are allocated to store the mantissa (together with the sign) and a certain fixed number of bits are allocated to store the characteristic (also signed).

    Any person who has interacted with computers at least a little is familiar with such terms as “Gigabyte”, “Megabyte” and others.

    They indicate the volume of a physical storage medium, such as a flash drive, hard drive, or the volume of any file stored on a computer.
    Simply put, this value indicates how much space on a computer any file occupies, or how much information in total the medium can hold.

    If you are reading this article with the goal of converting one unit of measurement to another, then I recommend immediately using the free online calculator at the bottom of the page.

    Enter any value in the field, select a value from the list and the calculator will perform the conversion.

    What is a byte, kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte

    Several decades ago, computer memory was small, amounting to no more than a dozen bits or a couple of bytes. You could store several formulas, a couple of examples or mathematical expressions there.

    Now the volume of hard drives is several terabytes, and the file sizes are calculated in gigabytes. Therefore, with the progress of computer progress, a problem arose in recording how much memory a document occupies.

    It was then that other quantities were invented that completely came out of the term “bit”.

    In other words, the terms "byte", "kilobyte", "megabyte" And "gigabyte" are universal units of information volume that indicate how much space files take up on your hard drive.

    How does it work?

    All hard drives, SD cards, flash drives can be combined under one common name - physical media.

    In simple terms, all these physical media consist of small cells for storing information.

    They contain data that is transferred to it using binary code. These cells are called bits, and they are the smallest amount of computer information.

    When you transfer information to a medium, it is, as it were, recorded in these memory cells and begins to take up space.

    Actually, the file size indicates how many bytes will be used when storing a particular file. This is the principle of volume designation.

    In addition, data that is used in the system is temporarily recorded in a special memory area - operational memory.

    They remain there as long as they are needed and are then unloaded. Data is written there to exactly the same cells, so RAM has its own volume designation, albeit much smaller than hard drives.

    What is larger - megabit or megabyte

    Often, the description of USB ports on the motherboard, as well as the characteristics of flash cards and other portable media, indicate the information transfer speed.

    It is designated as Gb/sec or Mb/sec, but do not confuse them - it is not gigabyte/second or megabyte/second.

    In this case, this is how other units of measurement are designated – megabits and gigabits.

    With their help, the speed of information transfer is measured.

    These quantities are much smaller than megabytes and gigabytes, and they are calculated, unlike the above-mentioned volumes, in the decimal number system.

    One megabit is equal to approximately a million bits. One gigabit is equal to a billion bits of information.

    You can almost always see these designations in the speeds of Internet providers.

    Therefore, if the speed of your network is 100 Mbit/s, then in one second of connection, 1,000,000 * 100 bits of information will arrive on your computer.

    Internet connection technologies make it possible to offer users not megabit, but gigabit connection options.

    USB 3.0 port standards allow you to transfer information at a speed of 5 Gbit/s, and this is far from the limit - after all, connectors of higher and higher speed versions are already appearing in motherboards.

    It is worth noting that the question of what is larger: a megabit or a megabyte is incorrect and cannot be answered.

    These are different quantities, different methods of measurement. Although they are compared with each other, however, no one does this, since it has no meaning or practical use.

    How many megabytes are in a gigabyte

    More and more comes out of less. Thus, a group of eight bit cells creates one large byte cell, that is, 8 bits = 1 byte.

    • 1024 bytes = 1 kilobyte,
    • 1024 kilobytes = 1 gigabyte,
    • 1024 gigabytes = 1 terabyte.

    Large volumes are not used in home PCs, so there is little point in talking about them.

    The average user will immediately have a logical question - why are the calculations and gradations so strange?

    Wouldn't it be simpler to make 10 bits equal to 1 byte, and 1 gigabyte equal to 1000 megabytes?

    Yes, indeed, it would be much easier. However, it is simpler in the number system we are familiar with.

    Here's the thing. In the real world, we use a range of numbers from 0 to 9. This is called the decimal number system. But computers think differently: they only know two numbers - 0 and 1, that is their calculation system is binary.

    These numbers, conventionally, mean “Yes” or “No”. In this case, they show whether the information storage cell is full or not.

    Without going into mathematics, it is only worth saying that when converting numbers from a binary system understandable to a computer into our decimal system, two is raised to a certain power.

    And to the power of two there are no numbers that are multiples of 10. That is why the calculations are so strange: 1 byte in this case is equal to 2 to the 3rd power of bits and so on.

    Thus, the gradation is carried out from two, and the number the greater the number of times it is multiplied by itself.

    Why is a 1GB HDD not equal to 1000MB

    Based on the explanation above, one gigabyte is greater than a thousand megabytes by exactly 24 units. Therefore, in the specifications on hard drives they write exactly how much their capacity is. These values ​​cannot be rounded either.

    Accordingly, 8 gigabytes of RAM is not 8000 megabytes, but 8192.

    It is for this same reason that sometimes when purchasing a storage medium, its volume is slightly less than what is written in the specifications.

    There simply cannot be an exact value, so often instead of the promised ten gigabytes, nine are discovered.

    Where are these quantities used?

    As mentioned above, these terms are used in the computer IT field.

    For example, when indicating the capacity of an HDD. Modern hard drives already have a capacity of more than one terabyte, and continue to expand.

    With flash cards and other portable media, everything is more modest - their maximum volume can reach 128 gigabytes.

    The same terms denote the volume of files.

    The spread in this regard is much greater; there are cases when a voluminous and large layer of information weighs several gigabytes, or a text file that occupies only a couple of kilobytes.

    Things are even more interesting with the computer's RAM.

    Its volume is also measured in memory cells, and many professional machines are now equipped with several RAM sticks, the total size of which can reach 128 gigabytes.

    This is due to the fact that more and more resources are needed to process information - and in order for the program to work stably, there must be a lot of space in temporary memory.

    Is there more?

    Are there quantities larger than a terabyte? Yes, of course they exist.

    • 1024 terabytes is 1 petabyte.
    • 1024 petabytes – 1 exabyte.

    The fact is that modern technologies have not yet reached the point of creating media, much less files, with a volume and size even close to these values ​​- therefore, they are used extremely rarely in everyday life.

    However, they are widely used for computer calculations in science and high technology.

    Considering how quickly technological progress is happening now, it is possible that in a couple of years hard drives with a capacity of 1024 terabytes will appear on the shelves

    Conversion table: bit, byte, KB, MB, GB, TB

    There is a table of all the quantities that are used in modern hard drives, other storage media, and files.

    It was created specifically for the convenience of accurately determining the amount of information and is given below. It includes only those units of measurement that can be seen and applied in real life.

    After a terabyte, although measurement is carried out, it is at the level of science and high technology, and not of everyday life.

    It is enough to simply determine how many bits per second are transmitted to your computer, divide the resulting value by 8, and then by 1024.

    For example, at a speed of 100 Mb/sec, approximately 12 megabytes of information will be transferred to you in one second.

    The disadvantage of the table is that it can only be used to determine even values, which can be found infrequently.

    In order to accurately determine the weight of a file or the capacity of your hard drive, you can use the online converter, which is presented below.

    Online unit converter

    Of course, the information presented in the table of values ​​is not enough for comfortable calculations.

    There are very few files whose weight will be exactly equal to one gigabyte or a hundred megabytes, and therefore, even with this background information at hand, it will be difficult to calculate how much media is needed in order to completely transfer a large document.

    It is for this purpose that an online unit converter is installed on this site.

    It works very simply - you indicate the volume and the value in which it is expressed. Next, you need to select the value to which you want to convert the number - and the converter will give you the exact value.

    A bit is one of the most famous quantities of information in the world. The first use of the word bit was proposed by Claude Shannon in 1948. It can be defined by Shannon as the binary logarithm of the probability of equally probable events or as a basic unit of measurement of information. It is possible to implement the bit as single-phase and two-phase. Did anyone understand anything..?

    Nota Bene... If you came to this article to get answers to the questions:

    Bits, bytes.....Theory

    So, as already mentioned, the concept of “beat” was introduced by Claude Shannon in 1948.

    What is a beat?

    Simply put, a bit is a unit of information. It can take two values ​​- in computer science it is “1” or “0”. "True" or "False". "True" or "False". In electronics, "1" and "0" differ in voltage. So, based on the voltage value, any device can understand “1” it was sent or “0”. So:

    • The bit can take the following values: 1 or 0

    What is a byte?

    This is an amount of information equal to 8 bits. Those. 1 byte is 8 consecutive "1" or "0" (bits). For example:

    • 00000001
    • 10101010
    • 11111010

    Etc... So "1" and "0" can be interchanged in 256 different ways. And a byte can take on 2 8 = 256 different values.

    The concept of “byte” was first used in 1956 by V. Buchholz. This word is an abbreviated phrase that means binary term. Buchholz was involved in the design of the first supercomputer; according to his scientific achievements, a byte was a bundle that simultaneously transmits up to six to eight bits in I/O devices. Later, the byte was expanded to 8 bits as part of the same project. In some computer models in the 1950s and 1960s, a byte was equal to 9 bits; in a Soviet computer it was equal to 7 bits.

    The rest..bytes

    • One Kilobyte is equal to 2 10 Bytes = 1024 Bytes. (Denoted as "KB")
    • One Megabyte is equal to 2 20 Bytes = 1024 Kilobytes = 1,048,576 Bytes. (Denoted "MB").
    • One Gigabyte is equal to 2 30 Bytes = 1024 Megabytes = 1,048,576 Kilobytes = a lot of Bytes..(1024 * 1,048,576 on the calculator) (Denoted "MB").
    • One Terabyte is equal to 2 40 Bytes = 1024 Gigabytes = 1,048,576 Megabytes = ... (Denoted by "Tb")

    According to computer slang, gigabytes are also called “hectare” and “gig”. The prefix “Tera” for Terabyte is not entirely correct, since it means multiplication by the twelfth power. There are also such units of information as petabyte, exabyte, zettabyte and yottobyte, but they are very rarely used.

    Confusion with kilo...

    There is often confusion with the prefix “kilo” and its perception not as a multiplier of 1024 (nipple system), but as the multiplier 1000 familiar from school (SI system). In fact, everything is simple here:

    • Inscriptions "KB", "MB", "GB", etc. means using a multiplier of 1024
    • Inscriptions "kilobyte", "megabyte", etc. - using a multiplier of 1000, etc...

    Theory is over!

    Let us now answer frequently asked questions...

    FAQ?!

    How many Kilobits are in Megabits

    There are two options when answering the question how many kilobits are in a megabit:

    • Correct- 1000 kilobits (SI system) (When using this option, it is better to write that there are 1000 decimal kilobits in one megabit)
    • And the second - 1024 kilobits (in the binary approach) (There is no concept of “Megabit” as “Mbyte”. Therefore, generally speaking, it is not correct to say that there are 1024 kilobits in a megabit)

    Both options are quite popular, often used, which is why all sorts of inaccuracies arise. Computer designers, aka programmers, usually use the value 1000.

    How many Kilobits in Megabyte

    Most often this question is asked to calculate Internet speed, because... different providers indicate it differently. Some in Kilobits per second, some in Megabytes per second...

    As already described, historically the unit of data transmission was the bit. The measurement speed was carried out in baud 1 baud = 1 bit/sec.

    Now this concept is outdated and not used at all. Therefore, you can forget it, unless you need to pass the computer science dinosaur exam. So, to convert megabytes to kilobits, remember that:

    • 1 Byte = 8 Bits
    • 1 MegaByte = 1024 KiloBytes

    We get:

    • 1 Megabyte= 1024 KiloByte = 1024 * 8 KiloBit or what is the same 2 13 = 8192 KiloBit

    How many Kilobytes are in Megabytes?

    There are 1024 Kilobytes in a Megabyte.

    Read about the resolution of the dispute about 1000 Kilobytes in Megabytes in theory...

    p.s.: There is an unfunny joke... What is the difference between an ordinary person and an ordinary programmer? An ordinary person thinks that there are 1000 bytes in a kilobyte, but a programmer thinks that there are 1024 grams in a kilogram... Haha. Shovel.

    How many Kilobytes are in Gigabyte

    So we convert Gigabytes to Kilobytes:

    • 1 Megabyte = 1024 Kilobytes
    • 1 Gigabyte = 1024 Megabytes

    Therefore →

    • 1 Gigabyte = 1024x1024 Kilobytes = 1,048,576 Kilobytes.

    What is greater: Kilobyte or Megabyte?

    As already written above:

    • 1 Megabyte = 1024 Kilobytes

    Therefore, one megabyte is much larger than one kilobyte.

    When translating, we often encounter the problem of correct use of the full and abbreviated forms of the words “bit” and “byte” in Russian and English.

    Note:Bit And byte– units of measurement of digital information. 1 byte = 8 bits. There is a belief that bits are used to measure speed and bytes are used to measure size, but this is incorrect. The difference between bits and bytes is the same as between millimeters and centimeters. However, it is true that traditionally speed is measured in kilo/mega bits per second, and the file size is in kilo/mega bytes.

    According to GOST 8.417-2002 “Units of quantities”:

    1. to indicate bytes Russian language uses Russian capital letter B, in English – B. For bat there is no abbreviation in either Russian or English, the beat is always written fully(so, abbreviation gigabit should look like this: Gbit, Gbit(GB usage is not allowed). In some ways, even though there is no abbreviation for bit, using a capital B for byte avoids confusion between byte and bit
    2. in accordance with the international standard IEC 60027–2, the units of bits and bytes are used with SI prefixes (kilobit, kilobyte, megabit, megabyte, gigabit, gigabyte, etc.)
    3. designation KB start with a capital letter as opposed to a lowercase letter To

    Thus,


    To measure length there are units such as millimeter, centimeter, meter, kilometer. It is known that mass is measured in grams, kilograms, centners and tons. The passage of time is expressed in seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years, centuries. The computer works with information and there are also corresponding units of measurement to measure its volume.

    Bit and byte are the minimum units of information.

    We already know that the computer perceives all information.

    Bit is the minimum unit of measurement of information corresponding to one binary digit (“0” or “1”).

    A bit is only 0 (“zero”) or only 1 (“one”). Using one bit, you can write two states: 0 (zero) or 1 (one). A bit is the minimum memory cell; it cannot be smaller. This cell can store either a zero or a one.

    Byte consists of eight bits. Using one byte, you can encode one character out of 256 possible (256 = 2 8). Thus, one byte is equal to one character, that is, 8 bits:

    1 character = 8 bits = 1 byte.

    A letter, number, punctuation mark are symbols. One letter - one symbol. One number is also one symbol. One punctuation mark (either a period, a comma, a question mark, etc.) is again one character. One space is also one character.

    In addition to the bit and byte, of course, there are other, larger units of information.

    Byte table:

    1 byte = 8 bits

    1 KB (1 Kilobyte) = 2 10 bytes = 2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2*2 bytes =
    = 1024 bytes (approximately 1 thousand bytes – 10 3 bytes)

    1 MB (1 Megabyte) = 2 20 bytes = 1024 kilobytes (approximately 1 million bytes - 10 6 bytes)

    1 GB (1 Gigabyte) = 2 30 bytes = 1024 megabytes (approximately 1 billion bytes - 10 9 bytes)

    1 TB (1 Terabyte) = 2 40 bytes = 1024 gigabytes (approximately 10 12 bytes). Terabyte is sometimes called ton.

    1 Pb (1 Petabyte) = 2 50 bytes = 1024 terabytes (approximately 10 15 bytes).

    1 Exabyte= 2 60 bytes = 1024 petabytes (approximately 10 18 bytes).

    1 Zettabyte= 2 70 bytes = 1024 exabytes (approximately 10 21 bytes).

    1 Yottabyte= 2 80 bytes = 1024 zettabytes (approximately 10 24 bytes).

    In the table above, powers of two (2 10, 2 20, 2 30, etc.) are the exact values ​​of kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes. But the powers of the number 10 (more precisely, 10 3, 10 6, 10 9, etc.) will already be approximate values, rounded down. So 2 10 = 1024 bytes represents the exact value of a kilobyte, and 10 3 = 1000 bytes is the approximate value of a kilobyte.

    Such an approximation (or rounding) is quite acceptable and is generally accepted.

    Below is a table of bytes with English abbreviations (in the left column):

    1 Kb ~ 10 3 b = 10*10*10 b= 1000 b – kilobyte

    1 Mb ~ 10 6 b = 10*10*10*10*10*10 b = 1,000,000 b – megabyte

    1 Gb ~ 10 9 b – gigabyte

    1 Tb ~ 10 12 b – terabyte

    1 Pb ~ 10 15 b – petabyte

    1 Eb ~ 10 18 b – exabyte

    1 Zb ~ 10 21 b – zettabyte

    1 Yb ~ 10 24 b – yottabyte

    Above in the right column are the so-called “decimal prefixes”, which are used not only with bytes, but also in other areas of human activity. For example, the prefix “kilo” in the word “kilobyte” means a thousand bytes. In the case of a kilometer, it corresponds to a thousand meters, and in the example of a kilogram, it is equal to a thousand grams.

    To be continued…

    The question arises: is there a continuation of the byte table? In mathematics there is a concept of infinity, which is symbolized as an inverted figure eight: ∞.

    It is clear that in the byte table you can continue to add zeros, or rather, powers to the number 10 in this way: 10 27, 10 30, 10 33 and so on ad infinitum. But why is this necessary? In principle, terabytes and petabytes are enough for now. In the future, perhaps even a yottabyte will not be enough.


    Finally, a couple of examples of devices that can store terabytes and gigabytes of information.

    There is a convenient “terabyte” - an external hard drive that connects via a USB port to the computer. You can store a terabyte of information on it. Especially convenient for laptops (where changing the hard drive can be problematic) and for backing up information. It is better to back up information in advance, rather than after everything is lost.

    Flash drives come in 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB and even 1 terabyte.

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