title: Does a memory address point to a byte of information?
body: <p>The following is an excerpt from DTS file.
  linux/arch/powerpc/boot/dts/[board_name].dts</p>
  
  <pre><code>memory {
      device_type = "memory";
      reg = &lt;0x00000000 0x40000000&gt;;  // 1GB at 0
  };
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The embedded device has 1 GB of memory.</p>
  
  <p>0x40000000=1073741824 in decimal. </p>
  
  <p>The only way i get 1 GB is when i calculate 1073741824 as bytes. </p>
  
  <p>Which means 1073741824 bytes = 1GB.</p>
  
  <p>So does this mean 0x00000000 points to a byte of data in RAM?
  In other words, every byte in RAM has an address.</p>
  
  <p>Why is that so? What do we read a block of 8 bits? Why not a word?</p>