почему в байте 8 бит
"Enoch churns his purse up and down, making the coins-fragments fly, hoping to find a single pie-slice - one-eigth of a Piece of Eight, or a bit, as they are called. But he already knows he's spent most of his bits for small necessaries along the road. The smallest piece he has in his purse right now is half of a coin - four bits."

(N.Stephenson, Quicksilver)

(Место и время действия: Бостон, 1713)