Question

Bytes are commonly used to identify the size of digital information. How many bits are in a byte?

1) 4 bits
2) 8 bits
3) 16 bits
4) 32 bits

Answer 1

A byte consists of 8 bits. Larger multiples of bytes, such as kilobytes (KB) and megabytes (MB), are used to measure larger amounts of digital information, with 1 MB equaling 1,024 KB, just over one million bytes.

Step-by-step explanation:

The number of bits in a byte is 8 bits. This is the standard size for a byte, which is a basic unit of measurement in computing for digital information. When it comes to larger units of data, multiplicative prefixes are used. For example, the term kilobyte (KB) refers to 1,024 bytes, which is approximately equal to 1,000 typewriter characters. However, when you reach the scale of one million bytes, the unit used is megabyte (MB). Therefore, it's important to remember that 1 MB equates to 1,024 kilobytes (KB), which is just over one million bytes. It's interesting to note that digital data, like cell phone conversations or computer data, is transmitted using bits where each bit is a binary one or zero.