making it a sphenic number.
The number is a special number in some tasks having to do with computing. This is the maximum value representable by an unsigned byte, the smallest common variable size used in high level programming languages (Bit being smaller, but rarely used for value storage). The range is 0 to 255, which is 256 total values.
This number frequently occurs in video games when a small number is needed.
In 2003 64 bit processors are gaining popularity so expect to see the numbers 18446744073709551615 and 9223372036854775807. 128 bit numbers are larger than can be typically displayed without using Engineer's notation. 2^127 (max value of a signed 128 bit number, in 1's or 2's complement notation it may be 1 lower) is 1.7014118346046923173168730371588e+38 and 2^128 is 3.4028236692093846346337460743177e+38.
This article is about the number 255. For the year AD 255, see 255.