Bits
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Description
Bits or ‘binary digits’ are the basic units of computing that exist as 0s and 1s, where 1 usually represents ‘True’ and 0, ‘False’. In semiconductors bits are stored as different electrical charges in a capacitor. When an operation is performed that results in a change of a specific bit, the state of charge in the capacitor is altered to store the new bit.
Bits are represented by a lowercase ‘b’ as in Mb/s or Gb/s (when referring to internet speeds). Bytes are a collection of 8 bits and represented by a capital ‘B’, a typical unit for quantifying storage of data, think GB or TB.
Because computers store bits as values of the powers of 2, 1Kb is actually 1,024 bits, 1Mb is 1024 Kb, and so on.