Question

How many bytes of storage space would be required to store a 20 -page document containing details of employees, in which each page contains 100 records and every record is of 200 characters, if two-byte Unicode characters were used?

Short answer

The document requires 800,000 bytes of storage.

Step-by-step solution

Understanding the Problem

First, let's break down what we are given. We have a 20-page document, each page has 100 records, and every record is 200 characters long. We are asked to find the storage required using two-byte Unicode characters.

Calculate Characters per Page

Multiply the number of records per page by the number of characters per record: 100 records/page * 200 characters/record = 20,000 characters per page.

Calculate Total Characters

Multiply the number of characters per page by the number of pages: 20,000 characters/page * 20 pages = 400,000 characters.

Convert Characters to Bytes

Since each character uses 2 bytes (two-byte Unicode), multiply the total number of characters by 2 bytes/character: 400,000 characters * 2 bytes/character = 800,000 bytes.

Verify the Solution

Re-evaluate each step to ensure calculations have been done correctly and confirm the understanding of requirements for converting characters to bytes was correctly applied.

Key concepts

Unicode Characters

In the realm of digital storage and text representation, **Unicode** stands out as a universal standard for encoding characters from all written languages. Each character in Unicode can be represented by one or more bytes, helping computers process different languages, symbols, and emojis.
These Unicode characters are vital because they enable the representation of text in a computer-readable format, regardless of language. When working with Unicode, particularly in the two-byte format—also known as UTF-16—each character takes up 2 bytes of storage space.
This standardized approach ensures compatibility across different platforms and devices, making the global sharing of documents much simpler. The two-byte Unicode format optimally balances between compactness and capability, useful for most languages.

Document Size Calculation

Calculating the size of a document in digital storage involves understanding how much space its data occupies. Here's how we can break down the process for the given problem:
- First, determine the number of characters on each page by multiplying the number of records by the number of characters per record. In this exercise, it's `100 records * 200 characters = 20,000 characters per page`.
- Then, multiply the number of characters per page by the number of pages. With `20 pages`, you multiplicatively reach `20,000 characters/page * 20 pages = 400,000 characters total`.
This calculation helps to ascertain the textual content's size before converting it into digital bytes.

Character Encoding

**Character encoding** is the method of converting characters into bytes, enabling computers to store and transmit text properly. While there are numerous encoding schemes, in this exercise, we focus on using a two-byte Unicode character encoding.
- Every character uses 2 bytes of space. Fundamentally, this kind of encoding is developed to efficiently represent a vast array of characters, including those from non-Latin alphabets.
Thus, after determining the total number of characters—400,000 in this example—each of these requires conversion using the two-byte encoding. This conversion yields a total byte count of `400,000 characters * 2 bytes = 800,000 bytes` of storage needed.
Character encoding protocols like these ensure you can consistently store and retrieve the text in its original form across various computer systems.

Digital Storage Measurement

Digital storage measurement involves calculating how many bytes are necessary to store a given amount of information. Bytes are the fundamental units here.
In this case, for a document containing records in two-byte Unicode, the total byte count comes out to `800,000 bytes` as previously calculated.
Digital storage not only considers the size but also considers how efficiently different data formats are stored. Standards such as kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), and gigabytes (GB) typically represent storage larger than single bytes.
Understanding digital storage measurement is crucial when saving documents, sharing files, or hosting data on remote servers. It also plays a fundamental role in computing resourcing and cost management. Keeping these metrics in mind helps ensure optimal use of digital storage resources.