Computer Science
Basic

Bits to Represent n

Minimum number of bits to represent n distinct values.

Formula

b=⌈log⁡2(n)⌉b = \lceil \log_2(n) \rceil

Variables

nNumber of values

Example

To label 1000 items you need ⌈log₂ 1000⌉ = 10 bits.

Did You Know?

Just 33 bits can uniquely label every person on Earth; 64 bits can count grains of sand on all our beaches.

bitsencodinginformation