Hamming distances between bytes

This image shows the pairs of numbers from 0 to 255, or in other words all pairs of 8-bit bytes, in numerical order across and down. The colours represent the Hamming distance, or number of bits that differ, between each pair of numbers. Red represents a distance of 1, followed by orange (2), yellow (3), green (4), green-cyan (5), light blue (6), mid blue (7) and blue-black (8).

No particular reason for showing you that: I just like boolean algebras and all that, and thought it made a neat picture.

To see it full size or get the JPEG source, just click on the image.

Some people feel that it looks even better in monochrome (below).

Dr J K Slaney                      Phone (Aus.):  (026) 125 8607
Logic and Computation Group        Phone (Int.): +61 26 125 8607
School of Computer Science         Fax (Aus.):    (026) 125 8651
Australian National University     Fax (Int.):   +61 26 125 8651
Canberra, ACT, 0200, AUSTRALIA