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โšก High and Low

โšก High and Low

In digital systems, signals are often described as High or Low.


๐Ÿ”Œ Electrical Voltage Levels

At their core, High and Low refer to voltage regions

TermElectrical MeaningTypical Voltage Range (5V logic)
HighElevated voltage (near Vcc)~2V to 5V
LowGrounded voltage (near GND)~0V to 0.8V

These are physical descriptors:

  • High means the signal line is carrying a voltage close to the positive supply rail.
  • Low means the signal line is close to ground.

They do not inherently mean 1 or 0โ€”those meanings are assigned by context.


๐Ÿ—บ๏ธ Mapping Voltage to Logic

To interpret High/Low as binary values, we need to know the signalโ€™s polarity:

Signal TypeHigh Voltage Meansโ€ฆLow Voltage Meansโ€ฆ
Active-HighAsserted / TRUE / 1Deasserted / FALSE / 0
Active-LowDeasserted / FALSE / 0Asserted / TRUE / 1

So:

  • High voltage always means elevated potential
  • But whether that means 1 or 0 depends on whether the signal is active-high or active-low
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