Is there such thing as one bit of information?

[fractalzen]

The smallest unit of information is a bit, which has two possible states. Yet don't you also have to specify the location of this information? So in a 4d world we're talking about 4 + 1 = 5 degrees of freedom, or 5 bits of information to code for just the one bit.

So is there really such thing as one bit of information or is each bit of information really 5 bits?

 

[mfb]

Yet don't you also have to specify the location of this information?

No. You can say "this device [here] stores one bit of information". And this information (not your description of it!) can then be zero or one.

 

[rootone]

Why should it be necessary for a bit of information to be described in a 4d world space?
Depending on what the bit represents it could be in any dimensional world space.
8 bits in a computer memory describe what is called a 'byte', which represents a value in a linear (one dimensional) world space.
We don't need to know where the computer is located in space and time for the information to be meaningful.

 

[DaveC426913]

This is an opportunity for me to introduce a topic that gives me joy: base one, AKA the tally system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tally_marks#/media/File:Tally_marks.svg

It this requires even fewer settings than binary. The numerals don't have off states, only on states.

 

[rootone]

Isn't this base 5 though rather than base 1?
Here, each 'cell' of information, (or whatever it's called) has five possible states instead of two, so obviously less such cells can indicate a given value.
Take the number 27 for example though, that's just a number out of thin air.
It can be described in binary as 11011, five information cells.
In the tally system it is 5+5+5+5+5+2, 6 information cells to describe the same number.

 

[mfb]

The groups of 5 are just made to make it more convenient to read. Every tick has the same value of 1, independent of its position.

 

[DaveC426913]

Wut mfb said.

 

[rootone]

It certainly is convenient given that we have five fingers.

 

[DaveC426913]

It certainly is convenient given that we have five fingers.

Well, thing is, as soon as you introduce fingers, you also introduce position. You can count up to 31 on a single hand if you use binary, because each finger has a unique position and therefore can be ascribed a unique meaning.

In the tally system, there are no columns/positions. If there are five marks, then it indicates five, regardless of mark position, proximity or spacing.