Acomputer monitor has a resolution of 1200 by 1000 pixels. if each pixel uses 1024 colors, how many bits are needed to send the complete contents of a screen?

12*10⁶ bits

Explanation:

If the computer monitor has a resolution of 1200 x 1000 pixels, this means that it is capable to show at the same time, 1200 x 1000 = 1,200,000 picture elements (abbreviated pixels) for a complete screen.

If each pixel can show 1024 different colors, in order to represent this quantity in binary, we need to find the least power of 2 equal or higher than 1024.

As 2¹⁰ = 1024, this means that using 10 bits/pixel, we can represent all 1024 different colors.

So, for a complete screen:

10 bits/pixel*1,200,000 pixel/screen

⇒ 12,000,000 bits/screen = 12*10⁶ bits/screen

So, in order to be able to transmit a complete screen at full-color, we will need 12*10⁶ bits.