Unlike a byte that is always 8 bits, word size can vary from machine to machine. Let's say we have a 16-bit system (word size is 2 bytes) and a memory unit that has 10 address lines. Because there are...

Unlike a byte that is always 8 bits, word size can vary from machine to machine. Let's say we have a 16-bit system (word size is 2 bytes) and a memory unit that has 10 address lines.

Because there are 10 address bits, we can have 2¹⁰ unique addresses, hence 1024 addresses. If we are working with something word-addressable, that means each word has a unique address, and we canstore 1024 words. The memory size is 1 kiloword, or equivalently, 2kilobytes because each word is 2 bytes long. The address of the first word is 0, the second word is 1, the third word is 2, and the last word is 1023.


Now, with 4 address lines and a word size of 4 bits, what is the address of the last word?