eli5: difference between 32 bit and 64 bit OS.
In: 6
Computers respresent numbers and characters with bits.
The amount of bits determines how many different combinations you can make and therefor also the maximum number you can represent. (Each additional bit doubles the amount of combinations.)
It is possible to represent a 64-bit numbers with 2 32-bit numbers and therefore 32 bit CPUs, 32-bit software and 32-bit O.S. are able to work with 64-bit numbers.
However, due to the way computers are constructed, this means additional work which means not as fast as *native* 64 bit for these large numbers.
As most CPUs are 64 bit, using a 64-bit OS and software will allow you to work faster with these larger numbers.
Under the hood there are also a lot of other major differences in how 64-bit programs work internally, but that is more a leasons learned and doesn’t change anything conceptually.
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