Data Types and How Data Is Represented in a Computer

What Is Data?

Data refers to raw facts and figures that have not yet been processed into meaningful information. Data processing turns raw data into useful information.

Common Data Types

• Numeric: whole numbers (integers) and decimal numbers (floating point), e.g. 25, 3.14.
• Character/Text (String): letters, words and symbols, e.g. "Adewale".
• Boolean: logical values with only two states - True or False.
• Date/Time: represents calendar dates and times.

How Computers Represent Data

Computers only understand two states, represented by the binary number system (0s and 1s). All data - numbers, letters, images and sound - is eventually converted into binary code for storage and processing.

Units of Data

• Bit - the smallest unit (0 or 1).
• Byte - 8 bits, usually represents one character.
• Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terabyte - increasingly larger units used to measure storage capacity.

Why This Matters

Understanding data types helps programmers and computer users know how data will be stored, processed and validated correctly.