What is a binary digit, and how many bits are in a byte?

• A. A bit is 0 or 1; a byte consists of 8 bits.
• B. A bit is a symbol; a byte consists of 16 bits.
• C. A bit is 8 bits; a byte is 4 bits.
• D. A bit is a decimal digit; a byte is 2 bits.

Answer: (A)

A bit is the smallest unit of data in computing and can have two states: 0 or 1. A byte is made up of eight bits, which lets it represent 2^8 = 256 different values. This 8-bit grouping is the standard building block for encoding characters and other data in most computer systems, which is why the byte is the common data-size unit. The other statements mix up what a bit is or how many bits make up a byte, so they don’t match how data is typically described.