Fundamentals of Data Representation: Bit patterns in a computer

The language that a computer understands is very simple, so simple that it only has 2 different numbers: 1 and 0. This is called Binary. Everything you see on a computer, images, sounds, games, text, videos, spreadsheets, websites etc. Whatever it is, it will be stored as a string of ones and zeroes.

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Bit - a standard unit to measure computer memory, consisting of a value that is either 1 or 0

Byte - a standard unit to measure computer memory, usually consisting of 8 bits. e.g. 10101011

Exercise: Bit patterns in a Computer How do computers store data? Answer: as binary values, using a pattern of 1s and 0s What sort of data can be stored in binary? Answer: Video Sound Picture Text Code Spreadsheet Game etc What does the following binary string represent: 10011100 Answer: This could be anything: sound data picture data text ASCII for œ unsigned integer = 156 video data etc How many bits in a byte? Answer: 8, but it is originally the amount of bits used to represent a character How many bits in 7 bytes? Answer: 7 * 8 = 56