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MuggsTech · Course 1: Tech Foundations · Day 3

Lab: Bits You Can Hold

NameDatePeriod

Computers only know two things, on and off, which we write as 1 and 0. Today you'll see how two symbols are enough to store any number, any color and any file, and why the size of a download depends on whether someone is counting in bits or bytes.

Part A. Binary with cards

  1. Lay your eight cards in a row with the most dots on the left: 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1.
  2. A card face up means 1, and a card face down means 0. Add up the dots on the face-up cards to get the number.
  3. Make each number in the table with your cards, then write down the pattern of 1s and 0s.
DecimalBinary (8 bits)
6
19
100
0010 1010
1111 1111
Your age

Part B. A color is three bytes

  1. A web color like #D4A017 is three bytes written in hex: D4 is red, A0 is green and 17 is blue.
  2. To turn a hex pair into decimal, multiply the first digit by 16 and add the second. A = 10, B = 11, C = 12, D = 13, E = 14 and F = 15. So D4 is 13 × 16 + 4 = 212.
  3. Finish the table, then check your answers with the color picker.
ColorRedGreenBlue
#D4A017212
#1F3D2B
Pick your own

Part C. Spec sheet showdown

  1. Use the two spec sheets from your teacher. You can use a calculator for this part.
  2. Storage and memory are measured in bytes (GB, TB). Internet speed is measured in bits (Mbps, Gbps). There are 8 bits in a byte, so turn bytes into bits before you divide.
  3. A game is 6 GB. That is 6 × 8 = 48 gigabits. How long does it take to download on each plan? (1 Gbps = 1,000 Mbps.)
Plan 1Plan 2
Speed
Speed in gigabits per second
Seconds to download 48 gigabits
About how many minutes?

Think about it

Which laptop would you buy for a student who edits video, and which two numbers on the spec sheet decided it for you? Answer in two or three sentences.

Why do you think internet companies advertise in bits instead of bytes? Answer in two or three sentences.

Words to know

Bit
One binary digit: a 0 or a 1. The smallest piece of data.
Byte
Eight bits. Enough to store one letter or a number from 0 to 255.
Binary
Base 2. Each place is worth twice the place to its right.
Hexadecimal
Base 16. Uses 0–9 and A–F; one hex digit stands for four bits.
Throughput
How much data moves per second, measured in bits: Mbps, Gbps.
Clock speed
How many cycles a processor runs per second, measured in GHz.