A bit, also known as a Shannon, is the basic unit of information in computing and digital communications. A bit can have only one of two values, and may therefore be physically implemented with a two-state device. These values are most commonly represented as either a 0or1. The term bit is a portmanteau of binary digit.

The two values can also be interpreted as logical values (true/false, yes/no), algebraic signs (+/−), activation states (on/off), or any other two-valued attribute. The correspondence between these values and the physical states of the underlying storage or device is a matter of convention, and different assignments may be used even within the same device or program. The length of a binary number may be referred to as its bit-length.

In information theory, one bit is typically defined as the uncertainty of a binary random variable that is 0 or 1 with equal probability, or the information that is gained when the value of such a variable becomes known.

In quantum computing, a quantum bit or qubit is a quantum system that can exist in superposition of two classical (i.e., non-quantum) bit values.

A bit is a unit of information storage on a computer.

Bit or BIT may also refer to:

Tools and engineering

Arts and entertainment

Organisations

Education

A bit is a type of horse tack used in equestrian activities, usually made of metal or a synthetic material, and is placed in the mouth of a horse or other equid and assists a rider in communicating with the animal. It rests on the bars of the mouth in an interdental region where there are no teeth. It is held on a horse's head by means of a bridle and has reins attached for use by a rider.

Basic types

Although there are hundreds of design variations, the basic families of bits are defined by the way in which they use or do not use leverage. They include:

Curb or the Curb may refer to:

See also

Curb is the debut studio album by Canadian rock band Nickelback. Originally self-released by the band on May 1, 1996, the album was later reissued by Roadrunner in 2002, with a different album cover.

The album was named after a friend of lead singer Chad Kroeger's, Kirby. "He came over a hill in the middle of nowhere on a dirt gravel road and had a head-on collision with a car," Kroeger recalled. "He stumbled out of the car bleeding and bashed up pretty bad, and he opened up the [door of the other] car, and it's his girlfriend. She snuck out at the same time, was going to see him and he killed her on the back of a dirt road. I tried to imagine what they could possibly feel like, and that's where that song comes from."

The songs "Where?", "Fly", "Left" and "Window Shopper" had previously been released on the band's first extended play Hesher. While "Where?" and "Left" were re-recorded, "Fly" and "Window Shopper" were unaltered. "Just Four" was later re-recorded and released as "Just For" on the band's third album, Silver Side Up, in 2001.

CURB-65, also known as the CURB criteria, is a clinical prediction rule that has been validated for predicting mortality in community-acquired pneumonia and infection of any site. The CURB-65 is based on the earlier CURB score and is recommended by the British Thoracic Society for the assessment of severity of pneumonia. It was developed in 2002 at the University of Nottingham by Dr. W.S. Lim et al.

The score is an acronym for each of the risk factors measured. Each risk factor scores one point, for a maximum score of 5:

Predicting death

Pneumonia

The risk of death at 30 days increases as the score increases:

The CURB-65 has been compared to the pneumonia severity index in predicting mortality from pneumonia. It was shown that the PSI has a higher discriminatory power for short-term mortality, and thus is more accurate for low risk patients than the CURB-65 or its predecessor, the CURB score. However, the PSI is more complicated and requires arterial blood gas sampling amongst other tests; given this, the CURB-65 score is more easily used in primary care settings. A variant of the CURB-65 that omits the urea measurement (CRB-65) is even simpler, as it relies only on history and examination findings rather than blood tests.