Nibble

Common card · No. 205629

In computing, a nibble, also spelled nybble to match byte, is a unit of information consisting of four bits, equivalent to one half of a byte or octet (data units of eight-bit length). The unit is alternatively called a nybl, half-byte or tetrad. In computer networking and telecommunications, the unit is also sometimes called a semi-octet, quadbit, or quartet. A nibble uses four digits in binary positional notation (base 2) to encode one of sixteen ( 2 4 {\textstyle 2^{4}} ) possible values, representing the same amount of information stored by two digits in the quaternary numeral system (base 4) or just a single hexadecimal ("hex") digit (base 16). That functional equivalence allows nibbles to typically be represented by a single hex digit, and likewise, byte values by a pair of hex digits. Four-bit computers use nibble-sized data for storage and operations, in the form of the word unit. Such...

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