# GCSE Computing/Computing hardware/Introduction to Binary Logic/Binary logic/Bits Bytes Nibbles
## What you need to know

Define the terms bit, nibble, byte

## A bit

If we only have one wire (or other piece of data storage), it can be on or off. So we could only store a very small piece of information, such as if one thing were true (on) or false (off). This is called a bit.

## A nibble

Usually we want to store more than true or false. It could be anything, but let's start simply with trying to store a moderate size number. If we had four bits together we could store 16 numbers (0 to 15).

### Exercise

Check that you understand why four bits lets you store 16 different numbers, by writing out every possibility. The start and end of the table to do it is here:
Figure 1 - Table for a nibble :
| Eights | Fours | Twos | Ones | Equals |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 15 |

## A byte

A nibble isn't a very useful amount. The main size up from a bit that people usually talk about is a byte, which is normally made up of 8 bits. If we had eight bits we could store 256 numbers (0 to 255).

### Exercise

Check that you understand why eight bits lets you store 256 different numbers, by writing out the first ten numbers (0 to 9) and the last ten numbers (246 to 255).

### ASCII Table

Let's look at trying to store a single letter. It's not as simple as 26 letters - we might need capitals or lower case, plus there are punctuation marks etc. The table below shows some of the characters available. If you look at the column headed Glyph it shows what letter or symbol it is. The Binary column tells you the binary equivalent. Again, think why we care about binary. A capital letter A, which has the binary 1000001 (65 in Base 10) means that, if this is being transmitted round a computer wires 1 and 7 have a voltage and the others don't.
| Binary | Oct | Dec | Hex | Glyph |
| 010 0000 | 040 | 32 | 20 | ␠ |
| 010 0001 | 041 | 33 | 21 | ! |
| 010 0010 | 042 | 34 | 22 | " |
| 010 0011 | 043 | 35 | 23 | # |
| 010 0100 | 044 | 36 | 24 | $ |
| 010 0101 | 045 | 37 | 25 | % |
| 010 0110 | 046 | 38 | 26 | & |
| 010 0111 | 047 | 39 | 27 | ' |
| 010 1000 | 050 | 40 | 28 | ( |
| 010 1001 | 051 | 41 | 29 | ) |
| 010 1010 | 052 | 42 | 2A | * |
| 010 1011 | 053 | 43 | 2B | + |
| 010 1100 | 054 | 44 | 2C | , |
| 010 1101 | 055 | 45 | 2D | - |
| 010 1110 | 056 | 46 | 2E | . |
| 010 1111 | 057 | 47 | 2F | / |
| 011 0000 | 060 | 48 | 30 | 0 |
| 011 0001 | 061 | 49 | 31 | 1 |
| 011 0010 | 062 | 50 | 32 | 2 |
| 011 0011 | 063 | 51 | 33 | 3 |
| 011 0100 | 064 | 52 | 34 | 4 |
| 011 0101 | 065 | 53 | 35 | 5 |
| 011 0110 | 066 | 54 | 36 | 6 |
| 011 0111 | 067 | 55 | 37 | 7 |
| 011 1000 | 070 | 56 | 38 | 8 |
| 011 1001 | 071 | 57 | 39 | 9 |
| 011 1010 | 072 | 58 | 3A | : |
| 011 1011 | 073 | 59 | 3B | ; |
| 011 1100 | 074 | 60 | 3C | < |
| 011 1101 | 075 | 61 | 3D | = |
| 011 1110 | 076 | 62 | 3E | > |
| 011 1111 | 077 | 63 | 3F | ? |
| Binary | Oct | Dec | Hex | Glyph |
| 100 0000 | 100 | 64 | 40 | @ |
| 100 0001 | 101 | 65 | 41 | A |
| 100 0010 | 102 | 66 | 42 | B |
| 100 0011 | 103 | 67 | 43 | C |
| 100 0100 | 104 | 68 | 44 | D |
| 100 0101 | 105 | 69 | 45 | E |
| 100 0110 | 106 | 70 | 46 | F |
| 100 0111 | 107 | 71 | 47 | G |
| 100 1000 | 110 | 72 | 48 | H |
| 100 1001 | 111 | 73 | 49 | I |
| 100 1010 | 112 | 74 | 4A | J |
| 100 1011 | 113 | 75 | 4B | K |
| 100 1100 | 114 | 76 | 4C | L |
| 100 1101 | 115 | 77 | 4D | M |
| 100 1110 | 116 | 78 | 4E | N |
| 100 1111 | 117 | 79 | 4F | O |
| 101 0000 | 120 | 80 | 50 | P |
| 101 0001 | 121 | 81 | 51 | Q |
| 101 0010 | 122 | 82 | 52 | R |
| 101 0011 | 123 | 83 | 53 | S |
| 101 0100 | 124 | 84 | 54 | T |
| 101 0101 | 125 | 85 | 55 | U |
| 101 0110 | 126 | 86 | 56 | V |
| 101 0111 | 127 | 87 | 57 | W |
| 101 1000 | 130 | 88 | 58 | X |
| 101 1001 | 131 | 89 | 59 | Y |
| 101 1010 | 132 | 90 | 5A | Z |
| 101 1011 | 133 | 91 | 5B | [ |
| 101 1100 | 134 | 92 | 5C | \ |
| 101 1101 | 135 | 93 | 5D | ] |
| 101 1110 | 136 | 94 | 5E | ^ |
| 101 1111 | 137 | 95 | 5F | _ |
| Binary | Oct | Dec | Hex | Glyph |
| 110 0000 | 140 | 96 | 60 | ` |
| 110 0001 | 141 | 97 | 61 | a |
| 110 0010 | 142 | 98 | 62 | b |
| 110 0011 | 143 | 99 | 63 | c |
| 110 0100 | 144 | 100 | 64 | d |
| 110 0101 | 145 | 101 | 65 | e |
| 110 0110 | 146 | 102 | 66 | f |
| 110 0111 | 147 | 103 | 67 | g |
| 110 1000 | 150 | 104 | 68 | h |
| 110 1001 | 151 | 105 | 69 | i |
| 110 1010 | 152 | 106 | 6A | j |
| 110 1011 | 153 | 107 | 6B | k |
| 110 1100 | 154 | 108 | 6C | l |
| 110 1101 | 155 | 109 | 6D | m |
| 110 1110 | 156 | 110 | 6E | n |
| 110 1111 | 157 | 111 | 6F | o |
| 111 0000 | 160 | 112 | 70 | p |
| 111 0001 | 161 | 113 | 71 | q |
| 111 0010 | 162 | 114 | 72 | r |
| 111 0011 | 163 | 115 | 73 | s |
| 111 0100 | 164 | 116 | 74 | t |
| 111 0101 | 165 | 117 | 75 | u |
| 111 0110 | 166 | 118 | 76 | v |
| 111 0111 | 167 | 119 | 77 | w |
| 111 1000 | 170 | 120 | 78 | x |
| 111 1001 | 171 | 121 | 79 | y |
| 111 1010 | 172 | 122 | 7A | z |
| 111 1011 | 173 | 123 | 7B | { |
| 111 1100 | 174 | 124 | 7C | | |
| 111 1101 | 175 | 125 | 7D | } |
| 111 1110 | 176 | 126 | 7E | ~ |

#### ASCII - more detail

You may wonder why the table above starts at 32 and not 0. The answer is that codes 0 to 31 are used for other things that aren't letters, such as a backspace or a new line character.