Random Access Memory: A computer stores data in units called bits and bytes. Bits are grouped together in sets of eight. Each set of eight bits is called a byte. Setting different combinations of those eight "on and off' combinations can be developed to stand for letters numbers, spaces, and symbols. For practical purposes, think of a byte as one character. When computers refer to memory or storage they refer to terms using the following forms of measurement.
• 8 bits = 1 byte
• 1024 bytes = 1 Kilobyte (KBI
• 1024 Kilobytes = 1 Megabyte (MB)
• 1024 Megabytes = 1 Gigabyte (GB)

The term memory identifies data storage that comes in the form of chips, and the word storage is used for memory that exists on tapes or disks. Moreover, the term memory is usually used as shorthand for physical memory, which refers to the actual chips capable of holding data. The word RAM is used to distinguish it from external mass storage devices such as hard disk.

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Every computer has a physical temporary internal storage place. Such temporary internal storage place is known as RAM. RAM is the place in a computer where the operating system, application programs, and data in current use are kept so that they can be quickly reached by the computer's processor. RAM is much faster to read from and write to than the other kinds of storage in a computer, the hard disk, floppy disk, and CD-ROM. However, the data in RAM stays there only as long as your computer is running. When you turn the computer off, RAM loses its data. When you turn your computer on again, the operating system and other files are once again loaded into RAM, usually from the hard disk. In order words we can say that RAM is volatile memory. Information of any kind can be stored permanently only when it is stored in the hard disk. RAM chips come in memory sizes of 64 MB, 128 MB, 256 MB, and so on.

The RAM comes in two different technologies, Static RAM (SRAM) and Dynamic RAM (DRAM). The two types differ in the technology they use to hold data, dynamic RAM being the more common type. Dynamic RAM needs to be refreshed thousands of times per second. Static RAM does not need to be refreshed, which makes it faster; but it is also more expensive than dynamic RAM. Both types of RAM are volatile, meaning that they lose their contents when the power is turned off.