Chat with our AI personalities
Was Gen Myers the first one to coin this term in 2004?
the left hand bit in each term specifies its sign n called sign bit so if it s negative it *0* on left bit and vice versa...maddy
Acre is a term for an approximate measurement for which a yoke and an oxen could plow in a single day
While the computer/information term 'bit' was first used in a research paper by Claude Shannon in 1948, the term was coined by John Tukey as a contraction of binary digit while he was working on concepts of computer design. I suppose during the holidays we could say it is a bit of Tukey.
The term "bit" used in the USA comes from the Spanish Milled silver dollar which could be cut into 8 equal parts, 8 bits, also known as a Piece of Eight. Technically, a bit is 12.5 cents but there are no one bit coins, only 2, 4, 6, and 8 bits. 2 bits being 25 cents [a quarter dollar], 4 bits being 50 cents [a half dollar] and so on. The term is dated and is used very little today.