What is the range of the short type in Java?

• A. -1 to 1
• B. -128 to 127
• C. -32,768 to 32,767
• D. 0 to 65,535

Answer: (C)

The short type in Java is a 16-bit signed integer, which means it can represent a range of values starting from -32,768 and going up to 32,767. This range is determined by the fact that one bit is used for the sign (positive or negative), leaving 15 bits to represent the actual value. The calculation of the range comes from the formula for signed integers, which is from - (2^(n-1)) to (2^(n-1) - 1), where n is the number of bits. Since n is 16 for the short type, the minimum value is -32,768 and the maximum is 32,767.

Option A, which suggests a range of -1 to 1, is not sufficient to cover the values that a short can hold and only represents a very limited scope. Option B, ranging from -128 to 127, is the range for a byte type, which is also not applicable here as bytes are 8-bit signed integers. Option D suggests a range of 0 to 65,535, which describes the unsigned short in other programming languages but not the signed short used in Java.

Therefore, the correct understanding of the short type's range ensures