10100110

10100110 is an eight-bit binary sequence commonly encountered in computing as a byte. In unsigned binary, the value is 166 in decimal, and in hexadecimal it is A6. This representation is widely used in data storage and transmission as a single byte.

Interpreting the same bit pattern in different numeric schemes yields different values. In a signed eight-bit two's complement interpretation, the most significant bit is 1, so 10100110 represents -90. This illustrates how the same bit configuration can encode distinct integers depending on whether the value is treated as unsigned or signed.

In character encodings, 10100110 corresponds to the byte value 0xA6. In Unicode this maps to the code point U+00A6, known as the broken bar symbol. In many legacy encodings such as Windows-1252 or ISO/IEC 8859-1, 0xA6 retains a similar symbol, while in standard ASCII it does not represent a printable character. This highlights how binary data can be interpreted differently across encoding systems.

In practical terms, 10100110 may appear as a byte within data streams, as part of a larger bitfield, or as a pattern in a bitmap or protocol header. Its meaning is context-dependent, shaped by factors such as interpretation mode (signed vs unsigned), endianness, and the surrounding data format.