Digital Devices

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A digital device processes electronic signals that represent either a one (“on”) or a zero (“off”). The on state is represented by the presence of an electronic signal; the off state is represented by the absence of an electronic signal. Each one or zero is referred to as a bit (a contraction of binary digit); a group of eight bits is a byte. The first personal computers could process 8 bits of data at once; modern PCs can now process 64 bits of data at a time, which is where the term 64-bit processor comes from.