What is the smallest unit of digital memory used to code a single character (letter, number, or symbol)?

The smallest unit of digital memory used to code a single character, such as a letter, number, or symbol, is called a byte. A byte typically consists of 8 bits. Since each bit can hold a value of either 0 or 1, a byte can represent 256 different values or characters (from 0 to 255). This encoding allows for a wide range of characters, including letters (both uppercase and lowercase), numbers, punctuation marks, and various symbols used in computer text.

In many encoding schemes, such as ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange), each character is assigned a specific byte value, making it possible for computers to store and manipulate text. More advanced encoding standards, like UTF-8, extend this concept to support a much larger set of characters and symbols from various languages and scripts.