• @Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    53 months ago

    Base 2 gives the unit of bits

    Which is exactly what bit means.

    base 10 gives units of “dits”

    Which is not bits, but the equivalent 1 digit at base 10.

    I have no idea how you think this changes anything about what a bit is?

    • Aatube
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      103 months ago

      The external storage data and shannon are both called bits, exactly because they’re both base 2. That does not mean they’re the same. As the article explains it, a shannon is like a question from 20 questions.

      • @General_Effort@lemmy.world
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        23 months ago

        Wrong. They are called the same because they are fundamentally the same. That’s how you measure information.

        In some contexts, one wants to make a difference between the theoretical information content and what is actually stored on a technical device. But that’s a fairly subtle thing.

        • Aatube
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          33 months ago

          I don’t see how that can be a subtle difference. How is a bit of external storage data only subtly different from information content that tells the probability of the event occurring is ½?

          • @General_Effort@lemmy.world
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            03 months ago

            It’s a bit like asking what is the difference between the letter “A” and ink on a page in the shape of the letter “A”. Of course, first one would have to explain how they are usually not different at all.

            BTW, I don’t know what you mean by “external storage data”. The expression doesn’t make sense.