What is binary data?

All data in a computer is converted and stored in Binary fashion.  Binary is a base-2 number system made up of only zero (0) and one (1).  Each zero or one is stored as a Bit – a binary digit.  These bits are combined into groups of eight which are called Bytes.  A byte is the smallest addressable unit of memory in a computer.  These bytes can be used to represent all letters, numbers, etc. within the computer.  This is done through a coding system called ASCII – American Standard Code for Information Interchange.   In ASCII each character is represented by a specific combination of 8 bits (1 byte).  Examples of the ASCII code are found on page 893 of your textbook.