page_title: 36-bit computing
hierarchical_section_title: 36-bit computing
caption_attribution_description: English: Exhibit in the Ridai Museum of Modern Science, Tokyo University of Science, Kagurazaka campus - 1-3 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo.
context_page_description: In computer architecture, 36-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units are those that are 36 bits wide. Also, 36-bit CPU and ALU architectures are those that are based on registers, address buses, or data buses of that size.
  36-bit computers were popular in the early mainframe computer era from the 1950s through the early 1970s.
  Starting in the 1960s, but especially the 1970s, the introduction of 7-bit ASCII led to the move to machines using 8-bit words, notably the IBM System/360. By the mid-1970s the conversion was largely complete, and microprocessors quickly moved from 8-bit to 16-bit to 32-bit over a period of a decade. The number of 36-bit machines rapidly fell during this period, offered largely for backward compatibility purposes running legacy programs.
context_section_description: In computer architecture, 36-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units are those that are  36 bits (six six-bit characters) wide.  Also, 36-bit CPU and ALU architectures are those that are based on registers, address buses, or data buses of that size.
  36-bit computers were popular in the early mainframe computer era from the 1950s through the early 1970s.
  Starting in the 1960s, but especially the 1970s, the introduction of 7-bit ASCII led to the move to machines using 8-bit words, notably the IBM System/360. By the mid-1970s the conversion was largely complete, and microprocessors quickly moved from 8-bit to 16-bit to 32-bit over a period of a decade. The number of 36-bit machines rapidly fell during this period, offered largely for backward compatibility purposes running legacy programs.
caption: Friden mechanical calculator. The electronic computer word length of 36-bits was chosen, in part, to match its precision.
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