Storing data in binary
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Flip to reveal answersWhy do the same bits mean different things in different files?
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Question
Why do the same bits mean different things in different files?
Answer
Because the meaning is an agreement held by the program reading them, not a property of the bits. 01000001 is 65 read by place value and A read through a character set.
Question
How is text stored in binary?
Answer
Each character is given a number by an agreed character set — 65 for A in ASCII — and that number is stored in binary. A string is those numbers one after another, so CAT is 67, 65, 84.
Question
What is the difference between ASCII and Unicode?
Answer
ASCII uses one byte per character and covers English. Unicode assigns numbers to every writing system, using more bytes per character where it needs them.
Question
How is an image stored in binary?
Answer
The picture is divided into a grid of pixels, and each pixel's colour is stored as numbers — one byte for greyscale, or three bytes for red, green and blue. More pixels means proportionally more storage.
Question
How are audio and video stored?
Answer
Audio: the height of the sound wave measured thousands of times a second, each measurement stored as a number. Video: a complete image 24 to 60 times a second, plus the audio — which is why video files are the largest.
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Topic 1.2 hub
Data representation and logic
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