4) Data representation and data types

• What is a bit?

  The smallest unit of data that a computer can process and store
• What is a byte?

  8 bits
• What is a word?

  A word is the number of bits that can be manipulated by the CPU as a single unit.
• Why is ASCII useful?

  Enables computer systems to communicate with each other easily, use of mainly just one code avoids confusion between systems
• Why is Unicode useful?

  To accommodate languages with bigger alphabets like Arabic and Chinese, uses 4 bytes so 110,000 characters available.
• What are the advantages of using integer?

  Numbers are stored accurately, less complex processing, exact representation of zero, less storage space
• What are the advantages of using floating point form?

  very large and small numbers can be stored, larger range of numbers can be represented, fractions and decimal places can be represented
• What is truncation?

  Truncation occurs when there are not enough bits to represent the number to be stored. In this instance, the extra bits are cut off.