# Bits 'n Bytes.

This is basic Computer Science but its worth restating the basics sometimes.

## bits

A bit is the smallest component in computer memory, it has two states, either ON or OFF. These states are represented as 1 or 0 and thus everything is based on binary arithmatic.

    Off == 0
    On  == 1

## Bytes

For convinence, bits are grouped into blocks of 8, these blocks are called Bytes. An integer byte can store any value from 0 -> 255. ------------------------- 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1 ------------------------- 8 4 2 1 8 4 2 1 ------------------------- F F -------------------------

## KiloBytes

This is a thousand bytes. The exact value is 2 to the power of <superscript>10</superscript> or 1,024

## MegaBytes

This is a Million bytes. The exact value is 2 to the power of <superscript>20</superscript> or 1,048,576

## GigaBytes

The exact value is 2 to the power of <superscript>30</superscript> or 1,073,741,824

## TeraBytes

The exact value is 2 to the power of <superscript>40</superscript> or 1,099,511,627,776 (big....)

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