What is bits?

Bits refer to the basic unit of digital information used in computing and telecommunications. A bit can represent a value of either 0 or 1. Computers store and manipulate data using bits, which are organized into groups of eight (known as bytes).

Bits are used to encode text, images, audio, and video data in digital form. They are also used to represent instructions executed by computers, such as program code.

The speed at which bits can be transmitted over a network or processed by a computer is measured in bits per second (bps). The more bits that can be transmitted or processed per second, the faster the network or computer is said to be.

The term "bit" is short for "binary digit," which refers to the two possible states that a bit can have. The concept of bits was first introduced by Claude Shannon in his groundbreaking paper, "A Mathematical Theory of Communication," published in 1948.