A total of 8 bits is used to represent how many shades of gray?

When 8 bits are used to represent shades of gray, it allows for a certain number of unique combinations of those bits. Each bit can have one of two values: 0 or 1. Therefore, with n bits, the total number of combinations can be calculated using the formula (2^n).

In this case, since we have 8 bits, we calculate the number of shades of gray as follows:

[

2^8 = 256

]

This means that 8 bits can represent a total of 256 different shades of gray, ranging from black (0) to white (255) when including all shades in between. This understanding is fundamental in digital imaging, where the number of bits directly correlates to the range and detail of colors and shades that can be depicted.