• Aatube
    link
    fedilink
    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
      link
      fedilink
      English
      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
        link
        fedilink
        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
          link
          fedilink
          English
          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.