256 (number)

← 255 256 257 →
Cardinaltwo hundred fifty-six
Ordinal256th
(two hundred fifty-sixth)
Factorization28
Greek numeralΣΝϚ´
Roman numeralCCLVI
Binary1000000002
Ternary1001113
Senary11046
Octal4008
Duodecimal19412
Hexadecimal10016

256 (two hundred [and] fifty-six) is the natural number following 255 and preceding 257.

In mathematics

256 is a composite number, with the factorization 256 = 28, which makes it a power of two.

  • 256 is 4 raised to the 4th power, so in tetration notation, 256 is 24.[1]
    • 256 is the value of the expression , where .
  • 256 is a perfect square (162).
  • 256 is the only 3-digit number that is zenzizenzizenzic. It is 2 to the 8th power or .
  • 256 is the lowest number that is a product of eight prime factors.
  • 256 is the number of parts in all compositions of 7.[2]

In computing

One octet (in most cases one byte) is equal to eight bits and has 28 or 256 possible values, counting from 0 to 255. The number 256 often appears in computer applications (especially on 8-bit systems) such as:

  • The typical number of different values in each color channel of a digital color image (256 values for red, 256 values for green, and 256 values for blue used for 24-bit color) (see color space or Web colors).
  • The number of colors available in a GIF or a 256-color (8-bit) bitmap.
  • The number of characters in extended ASCII[3] and Latin-1.[4]
  • The number of columns available in a Microsoft Excel worksheet until Excel 2007.[5]
  • The split-screen level in Pac-Man, which results from the use of a single byte to store the internal level counter.
  • A 256-bit unsigned integer can represent up to 115,792,089,237,316,195,423,570,985,008,687,907,853,269,984,665,640,564,039,457,584,007,913,129,639,936 values.[6]
  • The number of bits in the SHA-256 cryptographic hash.
  • The branding number of Nvidia's GeForce 256.


References

  1. ^ "Power Tower." MathWorld. Archived April 27, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Sloane, N. J. A. (ed.). "Sequence A001792". The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. OEIS Foundation.
  3. ^ "ASCII character chart." Microsoft. Archived January 19, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Windows 28591." Microsoft. Archived July 24, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "Improving Performance in Excel 2007: The ‘Big Grid’ and Increased Limits in Excel 2007." Microsoft. Archived December 7, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "Google Search Engine Tools Results". Retrieved 10 September 2015.
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