What is a bit? The technology simply explained

Bit and byte keep popping up as terms in computer technology, but what exactly do they mean? Both terms are units in the measurement of memory sizes. A bit is the smallest electronic memory unit and everything else builds on it.

What is a bit? All about data storage

Our computers communicate using binary numbers. This means the PC only understands a logical sequence of 1's and 0's. So a bit can have either the state 1 for "ON" or 0 for "OFF".

1. Due to the inconceivably large amount of data to be processed, the sequence of 1's and 0's for all possible individual files is stored in bits. So each bit acts as a container for the state of a unit.
2. Now to create or store data, a very long and complex sequence of instructions must be passed to the computer in binary. This in turn takes all the states and puts them in the appropriate containers.
3. Also data carriers know only a certain sequence of both states, through which a file can be constructed on the other medium during data transmission.
4. A byte is a collection of exactly 8 bits. Damit können in dieser Datenmenge bereits 256 verschiedene Möglichkeiten von Abfolgen dargestellt werden.
5. Bei einem Kilobyte sind bereits 1024 Byte zur Speicherung notwendig.
6. Für ein Gigabyte ergeben sich bereits 256 x 1024 x 1024 x 1024 Möglichkeiten.