Question

6. Antonio is a freelance computer programmer. In his work, he often uses 2n, where n is the number of bits, to find the number of ways bits (or units of information) can be arranged. a. Antonio is working on programming a new video game in which the main character, Millie, collects golden keys to help in her quest. Antonio writes a formula to show that Millie can collect one less key than the highest number of bits that can be arranged in the system. What formula can he use? b. If Antonio is working with a 16-bit system, how many golden keys can Millie collect? c. Antonio is also working on a new spreadsheet program. The program takes up 14 tes of memory. If each byte is equal to 8 bits, how many bits is Antonio's program? Show your work.

Answer 1

In general 2^n is the number of pieces of information n bits can store.

(a)  Antonio can use the formula 2^n-1 to indicate the maximum size of numbers an n-bit word can store.
(b) for a 16-bit system, the maximum number of keys Millie can collect is 2^(16)-1 = 65536-1=65535
(c) For a 14 byte program, there are 14*8=112 bits.