Bits

[AZRedhawk44]

Where does "bit" come from?  As in "shave and a hair cut, 2 bits?"

12.5 cents.  1 bit.  Who the heck decided we needed to deal with half-cents at the 12 cent threshold, but we don't have half-penny coins, and the dime, nickel and penny weren't enough to handle our currency needs?  Was there ever a "bit" coin?

And... computers have 8 bits to a byte.  8 bits in currency equal one dollar.  Coincidence?

Or... does bit have some inherent relation to octets?  I don't remember ever coming across a reference to anything relating to bits in my music theory classes (octaves).

[TechMan]

http://answers.ask.com/Hobbies/Antiques_and_Collectibles/how_much_money_is_2_bits
http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question7527.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_bits

[Harold Tuttle]

pieces iz pieces

[Perd Hapley]

Wikipedia is correct, or at least they agree with Samuel Eliot Morison's explanation in his Oxford History of the American People. If I remember rightly, Morison wrote that the Spanish dollar was the predominant form of currency in colonial New York, and eighth parts of Spanish coins became known as "bits" or "pieces of eight."

Wikipedia also agrees with what I have previously read about the term "bit" in information technology.  "Binary digit."  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit

Also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieces_of_eight

[bedlamite]

Wikipedia also agrees with what I have previously read about the term "bit" in information technology.  "Binary digit."  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit

There are 10 types of people. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

[kgbsquirrel]

There is also a unit of currency smaller that the cent which has largely gone out of use (from what I've read almost no currency in this denomination has been issued since 1960), the Mill, or, 1/1000th of a Dollar or 1/10th of a Cent. Used mostly for tax purposes way back in the day and produced in the form of stamps (or other low value materials.) A bit could in turn be properly represented by a dime, two pennies and 5 one mill stamps.

[TechMan]

There is also a unit of currency smaller that the cent which has largely gone out of use (from what I've read almost no currency in this denomination has been issued since 1960), the Mill, or, 1/1000th of a Dollar or 1/10th of a Cent. Used mostly for tax purposes way back in the day and produced in the form of stamps (or other low value materials.) A bit could in turn be properly represented by a dime, two pennies and 5 one mill stamps.

Ahhh that explains why levies here (OH) are proposed in millage.  Thanks kgbsquirrel.

[Perd Hapley]

Here's a picture of some Missouri sales tax mill tokens.  http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.112246665.jpg

I seem to remember seeing some of these somewhere a long time ago.

[GigaBuist]

And... computers have 8 bits to a byte.  8 bits in currency equal one dollar.  Coincidence?

Or... does bit have some inherent relation to octets?

It's a coincidence.  A byte wasn't always 8 bits (and probably still isn't on some systems in operation) but that's now the norm.  We use it interchangeably with octet (which absolutely means 8 bits) in casual conversation even though it's not a guarantee that byte=octet in all cases.

There's no relation to music.  At least not an intentional one.  It's just that segmenting things into 8 works well mathematically as you can divide it in half a few times and there's probably something pleasing about that level of separation between notes that resonates (no pun intended) with the human hearing mechanism.

[vaskidmark]

Does anybody besides me remember the days when radio-telegraphy first progressed to punch tapes?  (OK, I was not around then, but half the junk I worked on as a USMC crypto tech still ran off punch tapes.)

Those tapes could hold a maximum of 8 holes in a straight line across without being weakened to the point of tearing.  When "computing" came along punch tapes preceeded punchcards - and you had your 8 bits/bytes.

stay safe.

[RoadKingLarry]

You could have so much fun with the "holes" punched out of those tapes. Fill someones boots with them, Tape them over a door in a bag so that it opens and dumps on the next person to open the door.

[vaskidmark]

You could have so much fun with the "holes" punched out of those tapes. Fill someones boots with them, Tape them over a door in a bag so that it opens and dumps on the next person to open the door.

Or you could spend hours looking for the one that got wedged between contact points and was creating another problem besides the one that first showed up which is why I was awakened at 2 AM to go fix the bleeping machine.  Setting mechanical contact gaps of mere 10,000ths of an inch with feeler guages while being sleep deprived was a spectacle to behold.  Doing it in a tent lit by a Coleman lantern, with rainwater inches deep on the ground, was even better.  Did I mention the fact that I hated those little yellow dots?

stay safe.

[230RN]

It's the smallest piece ("bit") of information possible.

I seem to recall from long ago that a byte (lower case "b") was four bits, and eight bits was a Byte (with a capital "B").  (?)

Hey, we're talkin' 50 years ago, here.  I took my first computing engine course in the early 60s.  ... that's 1960s, not Babbage's 1860s.

Despite what you might be thinking.

Nowadays, with our penchant for acronymizing everything, it would have been called a SPOIP instead of a "bit."

As in, "That machine has a 64-SPOIP processor."

Terry, 230RN

[kgbsquirrel]

Actually the term for a 4-bit piece of information is a nybble. Bits, nybbles and bytes. :)

[Tallpine]

Actually the term for a 4-bit piece of information is a nybble. Bits, nybbles and bytes. :)

Just to add to the confusion, four bits (zeros or ones) can be handily represented by a single hexadecimal character: 0 .. F ( 0123456789ABCDEF )

So a byte is represented by two hex characters: 0x00 .. 0xFF (0x being a prefix indicating hex).

So it all works out real handy if you are messing with that stuff, or herding bits and bytes as I say.



BTW, have you ever noticed how tape measures have 1/8" marks?

It's a conspiracy, I tell you 

[230RN]

Actually the term for a 4-bit piece of information is a nybble. Bits, nybbles and bytes.

Thank you, kgbsquirrel! My memory of these things fades.

So 16 bits is a chomp?

[GigaBuist]

Thank you, kgbsquirrel! My memory of these things fades.

So 16 bits is a chomp?

Nope.  It's typically referred to as a word.

[freakazoid]

I thought 32 bits was a word?

[Tallpine]

I thought 32 bits was a word?

32 bits is a 32 bit word

16 bits is a 16 bit word

64 bits is a 64 bit word

 

[Perd Hapley]

Word?

[230RN]

double post

 

[230RN]

OK.

1 bit is a bit

4 bits is a nybble

8 bits is a byte (or a dollar)

16 bits is a chomp

32 bits is a chaw

64 bits is a gobble

128 bits is a gnaw

256 bits is a gulp

Right?

[kgbsquirrel]

OK.

1 bit is a bit

4 bits is a nybble

8 bits is a byte (or a dollar)

16 bits is a chomp

32 bits is a chaw

64 bits is a gobble

128 bits is a gnaw

256 bits is a gulp

Right?

Except you need to replace the first vowel in those words with a "Y".

[230RN]

"Except you need to replace the first vowel in those words with a 'Y'."

YK.

1 byt = byt

4 byts = nybble

8 byts = byte (or a dyllar)

16 byts = chymp

32 byts = chyw

64 byts = gybble

128 byts = gnyw

256 byts = gylp

Ryght?



?

Y ryspectfully quystion thy wyrth yf yyur ydea.

Tyrry, 230RN

[Tallpine]

Y ryspectfully quystion thy wyrth yf yyur ydea.

Hey, I can read Welsh now!