Atom vs Bit - What's the difference?
atom | bit | Synonyms |
(history of science) A hypothetical particle posited by Greek philosophers as an ultimate and indivisible component of matter.
(physics, chemistry) The smallest possible amount of matter which still retains its identity as a chemical element, now known to consist of a nucleus surrounded by electrons.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author=
, magazine=(American Scientist), title= A mote of dust in a sunbeam.
The smallest, indivisible constituent part or unit of something. (Now generally interpreted as a figurative use of the physics sense, above.)
* 1835 , Sir , Sir (James Clark Ross),
A very small amount (of something immaterial); a whit.
* 1873 , (Isabella Macdonald Alden) (as "Pansy"), Three People , Western Tract and Book Society (1873),
*
(mathematics) A non-zero member of a (Boolean algebra) that is not a union of any other elements.
(computing, programming, Lisp) An individual number or symbol, as opposed to a list. A scalar value.
A piece of metal placed in a horse's mouth and connected to reins to direct the animal.
A rotary cutting tool fitted to a drill, used to bore holes.
(dated, British) A coin of a specified value. (Also used for a nine-pence coin in the British Caribbean)
(US) An eighth of a dollar. Note that there is no coin minted worth 12.5 cents. (When this term first came into use, the Spanish 8 reales coin was widely used as a dollar equivalent, and thus the 1 real coin was equivalent to 12.5 cents.)
(historical, US) In the southern and southwestern states, a small silver coin (such as the real) formerly current; commonly, one worth about 12½ cents; also, the sum of 12½ cents.
A small amount of something.
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=15 (informal) Specifically , a small amount of time.
A portion of something.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=
, magazine=(American Scientist), title= Somewhat; something, but not very great; also used like jot and whit to express the smallest degree.
* T. Hook
(slang) A prison sentence, especially a short one.
*
*
*
*
(An excerpt of material) An excerpt of material making up part of a show, comedy routine, etc.
The part of a key which enters the lock and acts upon the bolt and tumblers.
The cutting iron of a plane.
To a small extent; in a small amount (usually with "a").
To put a bridle upon; to put the bit in the mouth of (a horse).
(bite)
, bitten
(label) bitten.
(label) Having been bitten.
*
*
*
1946] First used in print 1948 by (Claude Shannon). Compare (byte) and (nybble).
(mathematics, computing) A binary digit, generally represented as a 1 or 0.
(computing) The smallest unit of storage in a digital computer, consisting of a binary digit.
(information theory, cryptography) Any datum that may take on one of exactly two values.
(information theory) A unit of measure for information entropy.
* {{quote-web, date = 2011-05-17
, author = Lisa Grossman
, title = Entropy Is Universal Rule of Language
, site = Wired Science
, url = http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/05/universal-entropy/
, accessdate = 2012-09-26}}
Atom is a synonym of bit.
As a noun atom
is an (l).As a verb bit is
to beat (to strike or pound repeatedly).atom
English
(wikipedia atom)Alternative forms
* atomus (obsolete)Noun
(en noun)Katie L. Burke
In the News, passage=Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis:
Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a North-west Passage …'', Volume 1, pp.284-5
- Towards the following morning, the thermometer fell to 5°; and at daylight, there was not an atom of water to be seen in any direction.
page 325:
- "I have hardly the faintest atom of hope," answered this honest, earnest man.
- those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength
Synonyms
* See also * (small amount) see also .See also
* elementReferences
*archived version of Wikipedia page "Atom (disambiguation)"
Anagrams
* * * * * ----bit
English
(wikipedia bit)Etymology 1
From (etyl) bita and bite - all from (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)citation, passage=‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough! […] What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’}}
Catherine Clabby
Focus on Everything, passage=Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus.
- Am I bored? Not a bit of it!
- My young companion was a bit of a poet.
- (Knight)
- (Knight)
Synonyms
* (coin) coin, piece * (small piece) morsel (of food), piece, scrap * (portion) portion, share, segment * (horse equipment) snaffle, pelham, kimberwickeDerived terms
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Adverb
(-)- That's a bit too sweet.
Verb
(bitt)Etymology 2
See biteVerb
(head)- Your dog bit me!
- I have been bit by your dog!
Adjective
(-)Etymology 3
Coined by (John Tukey) in 1946 as an abbreviation of (binary digit), probably influenced by connotations of “small portion”.[http://www.princeton.edu/pr/news/98/q2/0602-honorary.html][http://www.thocp.net/timeline/1944.htmNoun
(en noun)- status bits''' on IRC; permission '''bits in a file system
- The researchers found that the original texts spanned a variety of entropy values in different languages, reflecting differences in grammar and structure.
But strangely, the difference in entropy between the original, ordered text and the randomly scrambled text was constant across languages. This difference is a way to measure the amount of information encoded in word order, Montemurro says. The amount of information lost when they scrambled the text was about 3.5 bits per word.
