What is the effect of applying ^255 to a 16-bit number? ^ is the bitwise XOR operation. It inverts the low byte and leaves the high byte unchanged. It inverts the high byte and leaves the low byte unchanged. Suppose x is an 8-bit number and y is a 3-bit number. What is the effect of the following assignment? x = (x & 248) + y & is the bitwise AND operator. If x was originally 248, then x is now y+1, otherwise, it is y. x is 248 + y after the assignment. The lower 5 bits of x are unchanged, the number represented by the upper 3 bits is changed to y. The upper 5 bits of x are unchanged, the number represented by the lower 3 bits is changed to y.