How much is 1 bit?

[psychospring]

Damn these bitcoins thingy are so confusing.

[tertius993]

"well, if 1 bit means 1 bitcoin, and 1 millionth of a bitcoin, and a 100th of a millionth of a bitcoin, and 12.5 cents, and 1/8th of a bitcoin, than we start having a problem."

Your reasoning skills are terrible.

1 bit does not mean any of the things that you just said EXCEPT 1 millionth of a bitcoin.

I am perfectly willing to listen to reasonable arguments but I haven't heard a single one come from you.

that's what you say, but i have seen others swearing they would be that much, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_(money) proves a bit is actually already 12.5 cents.

just because you think a bit means 1 millionth of a bitcoin does not make it so.

There is clearly the potential for confusion, but I very much doubt it would be that serious.

Also according to Wikipedia a "dime" can be 10 cents or $10 and people seem to cope OK.

I personally think it is long past the time when anyone can decide what to call a given fraction of a bitcoin.

Common usage will provide the answer (or more likely answers).

[zimmah]

the thing with common usage is that it is not always the majority who decides, there's often a small group of people who takes initiative and drag along a lot of people who are less assertive and they just go with the flow and thereby reinforce the 'status quo' without actually thinking about it or necessarily agreeing in full. They just go with it because it's at that moment the most popular, or even the only option. (ironically by doing so they reinforce the idea that whatever side they pick looks even more popular even though it might really not be the best option or even the most popular option)

Just because bitpay and reddit seem to have popularized the word 'bit' in the past few weeks, and some fake poll (a poll designed to vote for using whole bitcoins, 1/1000th of bitcoins or 1/millionth of bitcoins, which was then used to 'decide' on the name 'bit' while that had absolutely noting to do with the poll) does not mean the majority of the people actually prefer the name bit.

As i have demonstrated before, many people who defend the name bit are in fact not defending the name 'bit', but they are defending the opinion that a name should exist for the amount of 1 µBTC. And they confuse the fact that the amount of 1 µBTC should have a name with the fact that that name should be bit. But they seem to fail to realize that what we are fighting is not the fact that 1 µBTC should have a name, but we are fighting the name itself (and at the same time proposing a different name)

For that very reason i have created a poll to vote for a new name for this unit that is uncontroversial and most importantly unambiguous, because 'bit' has already proven NOT to be unambiguous and is therefore disqualified as a name. The last thing we want is to unnecessarily confuse the stream of fresh members that will come somewhere between now and the next couple of months.

[singularity]

because 'bit' has already proven NOT to be unambiguous and is therefore disqualified as a name.

If it's such a terrible name why don't you put up in the poll and find out?

[tertius993]

because 'bit' has already proven NOT to be unambiguous and is therefore disqualified as a name.

If it's such a terrible name why don't you put up in the poll and find out?

Quite.

And your definition of unambiguous must be different from mine - at least three of those options have other meanings.

[harrymmmm]

Damn these bitcoins thingy are so confusing.

They're not really. It's the very vocal peanut gallery making it confusing.

1/1000 bitcoin is something like a millibitcoin or 'millie'
1/1000000 bitcoin is a microbitcoin or something like 'micro' or 'mike'.
1/100000000 bitcoin is a satoshi

Forget the attempt to overload the word 'bit' as a microbitcoin.
It may end up being used, but I hope not.

[knightcoin]

...

just proof-of-work analogy

Watch Neil deGrasse Tyson Explain How Rich Bill Gates Is, And It's Fascinating
http://9gag.tv/p/a5XWnk

[knightcoin]

I like a 'finney'.

Sounds much better and is related to the bitcoin early days of development, with respect to Hal Finney.
The history of this name will give it a nice story to tell, and credibility.

1 bitcoin = 1 million finney's
1 finney = 100 satoshi's

This is a non-techie, bitcoin related and very marketable name.

bit, in my opinion, is too techie and a bit confusing.

+1
Me too.

btw, its reminds me that my gpg key has expired ...

[btcton]

I don't see why we want to stick to bit so bad. Mike sounds perfect to me.

[DrBitcoin]

I love bits. Clean and simple.
I hate that there are 1 million bits in a Bitcoin. That makes no sense.

A bit should be the lowest possible value. So there are 100 million bits in a Bitcoin.
Get rid of a Satoshi...it served its purpose but we need to move forward if Bitcoin is to go mainstream.

Then...we just need something that would represent 100 bits that is as clean and simple as bits and Bitcoin.

Something like:

1 BTC = 1million bites = 100million bits

The rational is allowing Bitcoin to operate on most financial software without too much fixing. They almost assume a decimal with two places for currency. Satoshis are the cents or after the decimal. 100 satoshi in a whole unit they call "bit"

I wish the 'bit = micro' proponents would stop conflating the arguments about 2 decimal places and the 'bit' name
Noone is arguing that two decimal places is a reasonable idea.
The argument is about what to call a microbitcoin, and that calling it a 'bit' is confusing everyone.
Call it a micro and be done with it.

EX-fucking-ACTLY! Verly eloquently put. A bit MUST be the smallest unit of a Bitcoin, it just makes sense.

There are 100 million bits in a bitcoin.

Now that that is out of the way...we need to call 100 bits something so we can satisfy the 2 decimal place conundrum.

100 bits = "X"

Whoever comes up with a simple name for "X" that follows the bits, Bitcoin naming scheme will have solved the conundrum and this thing can finally be put to rest once and for all! But to claim that there are 100 satoshis in a bit...this is legacy stuff...we have to move on!

[DrBitcoin]

I love bits. Clean and simple.
I hate that there are 1 million bits in a Bitcoin. That makes no sense.

A bit should be the lowest possible value. So there are 100 million bits in a Bitcoin.
Get rid of a Satoshi...it served its purpose but we need to move forward if Bitcoin is to go mainstream.

Then...we just need something that would represent 100 bits that is as clean and simple as bits and Bitcoin.

Something like:

1 BTC = 1million bites = 100million bits

The rational is allowing Bitcoin to operate on most financial software without too much fixing. They almost assume a decimal with two places for currency. Satoshis are the cents or after the decimal. 100 satoshi in a whole unit they call "bit"

I wish the 'bit = micro' proponents would stop conflating the arguments about 2 decimal places and the 'bit' name
Noone is arguing that two decimal places is a reasonable idea.
The argument is about what to call a microbitcoin, and that calling it a 'bit' is confusing everyone.
Call it a micro and be done with it.

On a side note, you can't have bits be the smallest unit and then call a larger unit a microbit. People would have to say "microbitcoin" every time. I guess they could say "micro", but that doesn't go with the bits/bitcoin naming scheme.

100,000,000 bits = 1,000,000 X = 1BTC

Solve X and you've solved the problem

[zimmah]

I don't see why we want to stick to bit so bad. Mike sounds perfect to me.

'we' don't want it, it's just about 10 persons or so who are vouching for 'bit'

On a side note, you can't have bits be the smallest unit and then call a larger unit a microbit. People would have to say "microbitcoin" every time. I guess they could say "micro", but that doesn't go with the bits/bitcoin naming scheme.

100,000,000 bits = 1,000,000 X = 1BTC

Solve X and you've solved the problem

that's why bit = 1BTC because otherwise names like microbit would not make sense. A centimeter is not the same as a meter, so a bit is not the same as a microbit either.

People will use microbit/millibit because that's just the natural thing to say instead of microbitcoin and millibitcoin. If you have never heard of any of the names the community has thought of, these are the first things that most people will think of. And since we are still in the innovators / early adopter stages there will be many new persons joining every day for the next couple of years. If we would use 'bit' to mean anything else than a full bitcoin, i can guarantee you we will have this very same discussion for years to come.

If you are not looking forward to keep explaining that for some reason a bit is somehow equal to µBTC for the next couple of years, just tell them 1 bit is an abbreviation of 1 bitcoin and be done with it.

[shawshankinmate37927]

that's why bit = 1BTC because otherwise names like microbit would not make sense. A centimeter is not the same as a meter, so a bit is not the same as a microbit either.

People will use microbit/millibit because that's just the natural thing to say instead of microbitcoin and millibitcoin. If you have never heard of any of the names the community has thought of, these are the first things that most people will think of. And since we are still in the innovators / early adopter stages there will be many new persons joining every day for the next couple of years. If we would use 'bit' to mean anything else than a full bitcoin, i can guarantee you we will have this very same discussion for years to come.

If you are not looking forward to keep explaining that for some reason a bit is somehow equal to µBTC for the next couple of years, just tell them 1 bit is an abbreviation of 1 bitcoin and be done with it.

Perhaps, "bitcoin" and "BTC" will end up being considered colloquial terms for a "megabit". 

1,000,000 bits = 1 megabit = 1 bitcoin or 1 BTC
1,000 bits = 1 kilobit

If the "bit" (.000001 BTC) becomes the new standard unit, I think the "kilobit" (.001 BTC) would still be commonly used because the exchange rate right now is about $0.0005 per "bit", or $0.50 per "kilobit".

[zimmah]

megabit and kilobit could also be confusing as they are already used for hard drive sizes and they use the 1024 base system instead of the 1000 base. Which means a megabit (hard drive size) is 1.048.576 bits

yet another reason why bits are not a good idea.

on the other hand, since bits can't be broken down in computers (as bits are the smallest unit in hard drive sizes) a millibit and a microbit are not used in that context and therefore would not be confusing.

[tertius993]

megabit and kilobit could also be confusing as they are already used for hard drive sizes and they use the 1024 base system instead of the 1000 base. Which means a megabit (hard drive size) is 1.048.576 bits

yet another reason why bits are not a good idea.

on the other hand, since bits can't be broken down in computers (as bits are the smallest unit in hard drive sizes) a millibit and a microbit are not used in that context and therefore would not be confusing.

Hard drive (and other date media) sizes are measured in bytes not bits.  A byte is 8 bits but the smallest usable unit is a byte and NOT a bit.

Just to add a (now very small) 1MB hard drive is one megabyte.

[zimmah]

megabit and kilobit could also be confusing as they are already used for hard drive sizes and they use the 1024 base system instead of the 1000 base. Which means a megabit (hard drive size) is 1.048.576 bits

yet another reason why bits are not a good idea.

on the other hand, since bits can't be broken down in computers (as bits are the smallest unit in hard drive sizes) a millibit and a microbit are not used in that context and therefore would not be confusing.

Hard drive (and other date media) sizes are measured in bytes not bits.  A byte is 8 bits but the smallest usable unit is a byte and NOT a bit.

Just to add a (now very small) 1MB hard drive is one megabyte.

and a byte is 8 bits.

internet speeds are in bits (because it sounds 8 times as fast that way)

if we are going to use bits, are we going to use bytes as well?

Maybe we should also change to binary or octal while we are at it. No more decimals, just count your money in bits. In total there will never be more than 111011101011111000001011010000001110100000000000000 bits. I currently own about 101010110101110100000100110000000000 bits

[tertius993]

megabit and kilobit could also be confusing as they are already used for hard drive sizes and they use the 1024 base system instead of the 1000 base. Which means a megabit (hard drive size) is 1.048.576 bits

yet another reason why bits are not a good idea.

on the other hand, since bits can't be broken down in computers (as bits are the smallest unit in hard drive sizes) a millibit and a microbit are not used in that context and therefore would not be confusing.

Hard drive (and other date media) sizes are measured in bytes not bits.  A byte is 8 bits but the smallest usable unit is a byte and NOT a bit.

Just to add a (now very small) 1MB hard drive is one megabyte.

and a byte is 8 bits.

internet speeds are in bits (because it sounds 8 times as fast that way)

Yes, I said that a byte was 8 bits.  But your claim about HDD sizes being measured in bits was misleading, and I was pointing that out.

[zimmah]

most non-tech people will not know the difference between a bit and a byte anyway

[knightcoin]

I think bit is the smallest computational unit before down into analog signal ... so it's helps with maths as be a indivisible int number...

I remember the time where I had spare time to play with my arduino board ...

for example blink a LED..

with avr-libc

Code:

#include <avr/io.h>
#include <util/delay.h>

 int main(void) {
    while (1) {
      PORTB = 0x20;
      _delay_ms(1000);
      PORTB = 0x00;
      _delay_ms(1000);
     }
     return 1;
  }

on arduino should be like
void setup() {
   pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
}

void loop(){
    digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
    delay(1000);
    digitalWrite(13, LOW);
    delay(1000);
}

tl/dr ->I can see bit as HIGH, LOW voltage .... too ...
need some music so relax now ...
bit is the old atom conception ...

The Robotic Musicians known as: Intel's Industrial Control in Concert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLdB0WEixjM

[phillipsjk]

megabit and kilobit could also be confusing as they are already used for hard drive sizes and they use the 1024 base system instead of the 1000 base. Which means a megabit (hard drive size) is 1.048.576 bits

I am actually with the Hard drive manufactures on this one. Many GNU/Linux distributions have converted to Binary prefixes, though I don't think Windows or BSD have. Mac OS X has converted to decimal prefixes for disk capacity.

Also, a byte is not always 8 bits. For example, the ASCII character set is 7 bit and may be transmitted over the wire as such (if you really want to; generally 8 bit bytes are used for modem use)

Some older 36-bit computers used 9-bit bytes, and there were also systems that had byte sizes of 6 or 7 bits, or even variable-sized bytes. For this reason, many people, especially techie professionals, prefer the term octet, which clearly and unambiguously implies “eight”. This term is much more common outside North America.

- Binary Information and Representation: Bits, Bytes, Nibbles, Octets and Characters