What Are Bits?

A bit is a single binary digit: either 0 or 1. It's the smallest unit of information a computer can store.

When you group bits together, you get binary numbers. For example, the binary number $1011$ represents $(1 \times 2^3) + (0 \times 2^2) + (1 \times 2^1) + (1 \times 2^0) = 8 + 0 + 2 + 1 = 11$ in decimal.

Computers typically work with groups of 32 or 64 bits to represent integers. In this section, I'll focus on how you can manipulate individual bits within these numbers to solve problems.