Page "ASCII" Paragraph 12
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The committee considered an eight-bit code, since eight bits ( octets ) would allow two four-bit patterns to efficiently encode two digits with binary coded decimal.
Since perforated tape at the time could record eight bits in one position, it also allowed for a parity bit for error checking if desired.
Eight-bit machines ( with octets as the native data type ) that did not use parity checking typically set the eighth bit to 0.
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