Rocket holds up a tiny memory card. "This says 32 gigabytes," he says. "Is that a lot?" Raven is not sure. "What do you notice about the word? It has two parts."
Nova spins slowly. "Would you like a hint? A byte is tiny. The first part of the word tells you how many bytes."
Rocket grins. "Let's build a size chart for the Fix-It Bay wall!"
A bit is one switch, on or off. Eight bits make one byte.
One byte can hold one letter of plain text. The word byte itself takes four bytes.
Bigger things need many more bytes. So we use bigger words to count them.
| Word | About how many bytes | About the size of |
|---|---|---|
| byte | 1 | One letter |
| kilobyte (KB) | A thousand | A short note |
| megabyte (MB) | A million | A photo or a song |
| gigabyte (GB) | A billion | A long movie |
Rocket's memory card says 32 GB. GB is short for gigabytes. So the card holds about 32 billion bytes.
That is room for thousands of photos. It is room for a few long movies.
A file size tells you how much shelf space a file takes. A bigger number means more space.
| Statement | True or false? |
|---|---|
| Eight bits make one byte. | ? |
| A kilobyte is bigger than a gigabyte. | ? |
| GB is short for gigabyte. | ? |
| One letter of plain text takes about a million bytes. | ? |
Excellent counting, Crew Technician! You can read a size like 32 GB and know what it means. Tomorrow you will put the whole week together.