If we take a simplistic picture, memory is a series of cells,each cell stores one bot of information.
these cell are usually grouped into 8 bytes.
when we stores information,we need to specify which byte is to be read-an index is binary number,because it is a series of electrical signals like"on off on off off.."on represents 1 and off represents 0.this index is called memory address.
the number of unique address possible becomes a power of two because...
1 binary digit can represent 2 numbers(0 and 1)
2 binary digits can represent 4 number (00,01,10,11 are 0,1,2,3,)
and so on..
n binary digits can represents 2 to Nth power distict addresses.
thus,usually it makes sense to double capacities of storage-this is not a rule though.it is only a path of least resistance.
one can surely manufacture a 6 GB drive by putting in 3*2 GB modules,but any hardware engineer is more likely to decide to make an 8 GB with 4*2. because we computer folk are obessed with power of 2>
these cell are usually grouped into 8 bytes.
when we stores information,we need to specify which byte is to be read-an index is binary number,because it is a series of electrical signals like"on off on off off.."on represents 1 and off represents 0.this index is called memory address.
the number of unique address possible becomes a power of two because...
1 binary digit can represent 2 numbers(0 and 1)
2 binary digits can represent 4 number (00,01,10,11 are 0,1,2,3,)
and so on..
n binary digits can represents 2 to Nth power distict addresses.
thus,usually it makes sense to double capacities of storage-this is not a rule though.it is only a path of least resistance.
one can surely manufacture a 6 GB drive by putting in 3*2 GB modules,but any hardware engineer is more likely to decide to make an 8 GB with 4*2. because we computer folk are obessed with power of 2>
Comments
Post a Comment