Byte and Bits

[mreccentric]

Hi all,
I wanted to know why 1 byte is always equal to 2,4,8,16,....
Why won't you see a 2,5,6,7,10,11 bits byte?
I mean it can also be used to define a character.

Ex: 101 = '>' , something like that

 

[voyagerfan99]

Because everything works off powers of 2.

 

[mreccentric]

I know that, Why are they power of two?

 

[larsch]

Because the bit has two states: on and off

The byte is normally 8 bits, because it was chosen to be that way.

 

[Aastii]

I know that, Why are they power of two?

We are working with electricity, which can either be on or off, 1 or 0. Working in powers of 2 lets you create any number which, considering all a computer is is just a big, very fast calculator, it makes sense

 

[larsch]

We are working with electricity,

Well, electricity is analog and is not just 0 or 1