Practice question · Numerical answer
An analog-to-digital converter uses 8 bits per sample. How many distinct levels can it distinguish?
Hints
- Each bit doubles the number of patterns that can be represented.
- Compute 2 multiplied by itself 8 times.
Show the answer
256
Why
2 to the power 8 is 256. Answering 8 confuses the number of bits with the number of levels; adding a single bit doubles the resolution, which is why converter bit-depths are quoted rather than level counts.
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