It is understood as such within the realm of information theory, and is conceptually distinct from the bit, a term used in data processing and storage to denote a single instance of a binary signal which (according to information theory) may contain up to 1 shannon of information. A set of N such symbols (such as contained in computer memory or a binary data transmission) is properly described as consisting of N bits. But the actual information content of those N symbols is typically less than N shannons due to redundancy (or informally, under-utilization of the information transmission or storage system).