Question

Morse code is used to send messages. Each symbol is represented by a series of dots and dashes. Why is it sufficient to use at most five dots and/or dashes to represent any symbol?

Answer 1

`2^5` "bits" translates to 32 characters, while the English alphabet has 26 letters

Explanation:

Let's approach this question this way - how many characters might someone want to send using Morse Code? There are 26 letters in the alphabet, so we need a code that handle at least that many characters.

Each character is represented by a series of dots and/or dashes - with each dot/dash being effectively a choice between 2 different bits (a dot and a dash being a "bit").

If we had one bit represent a character, we could make 2 characters.

If we had two bits represent a character, we could make `2xx2=2^2=4` characters.

If we had three bits, that'd be `2^3=8` characters

Four bits gets us `2^4=16`

And five bits gets us `2^5=32` characters.