Units of information

In computing and telecommunications, a unit of information is the capacity of some standard data storage system or communication channel, used to measure the capacities of other systems and channels.

(TO DO: expand, organize, cross-reference, illustrate.)

Description

In information theory, units of information are also used to measure the information contents or entropy of random variables.

Bit and byte

The most common units are:

• The bit, the capacity of a system which can exist in only two states
• The byte (or octet), which is equivalent to eight bits

Multiples of these units can be formed from these with the SI prefixes (power-of-ten prefixes) or the newer IEC binary prefixes (binary power prefixes).

Information capacity is a dimensionless quantity, because it refers to a count of binary symbols.

See also

• Bit
• Byte
• Information
• Information theory
• Shannon, Claude

External links

• Unit of information @ Wikipedia