(computer science) a bit that is used in an error detection procedure in which a 0 or 1 is added to each group of bits so that it will have either an odd number of 1's or an even number of 1's; e.g., if the parity is odd then any group of bits that arrives with an even number of 1's must contain an error
A bit (binary digit) used to indicate whether the number of bits in a given set with value of one is even or odd. Parity bits are used as a simple error detection code.