| So we learn the real answer is 256^1024 according to a limited concept of combinations. Its not so good when a mathematician makes such a rudimentary mistake using high school or secondary school mathematics but that's another conversation. I'm not even sure you can accurately tell me all the uses for a 1 bit value let alone a kilobyte. The number of uses is independent of the number of combinations. If your answer is two you're way off. Since when does knowing how many combination of states determine what you can do with something? Just because something has 256 states doesn't mean there are 256 different uses for it. There might be 124 uses for binary 00000000. But you won't know that by calculating 2^8. There might be only three uses for 10100111. One of them makes the world feel pleasant, another melts your face off and another releases three male rabbits into the same cage. But I doubt there's only three. There's likely millions of potential uses for just that pattern alone. How exactly would you calculate how many? Accurately? I'm unconvinced. The real issue here is lack of imagination. Placing limits where none need exist as well as failing to see possibilities without considering the vastness already present. 2^8 doesn't even begin to cover the number of uses for a single byte. Rephrased differently: how many uses for a hammer? Can you know only by analysing its orientation? I doubt it. Rephrased differently (again): feeding a particular combination into different machines will generate a different result. Can you predict the number of results from a given combination without knowing how many machines could process it? I doubt it. The question itself has too many unknowns in it. |