Thanks so much, Mike and David, for the nice words, and I'm happy to hear that this was helpful to you!
I used to work in tech support and at least "tried" to explain this sort of thing a few times before. So, in a way, I've been "teaching" this before, haha.
I re-read what I wrote, and a few things aren't really accurate and a bit misleading. Like, the "steps" aren't usually the same "height," unless we're talking about a perfectly even sine-wave.
For a more complex waveform, it's the difference in the height of the "steps" that describe the crazy up-and-down zig-zagging waveforms you usually see in recorded audio.
... and the bit-depth doesn't "only" contain the "distance" from the zero line, but a bit more info than that, AFAIK (for example, there's stuff like "interleaved" audio that combines signals into a stereo-data-stream and gives info which bits are for the left or the right channel... and some other extra data, that isn't directly related to the dynamic range, I think)... but I left that out, since that's not necessary for explaining what the sample rate and bit depth generally mean for the audio "quality." So, all of that was a bit more of a generalization, than an accurate description of what it really does.
So, while it's a nice idea to put these sorts of things into a handbook of sorts (thanks so much for even considering this - that's REALLY flattering and made my head grow a little, hahaha), it's not always 100% accurate. If this was a busier forum with more "experts" on these topics (self-proclaimed or otherwise) - such as on Reddit or Gearspace or so, I think I'd kick of a sh*tstorm with every such post, where more than half of the responses would be to prove that what I'm saying is wrong and misleading, hahaha
So, I think it's great if those who read along can get something out of what I'm sharing here... but I think it isn't really suitable for any sort of "official" handbook on the topic, since much of what I'm saying is either simplified, or sometimes even just assumptions of how I "think" this works (but then I usually add a note, when I'm not sure about it)... and sometimes, I'm probably plain wrong.
Anyway... again, I'm really happy to hear you found this helpful, and flattered about the nice comments. Much of what I post here are technically still only well intended "half-truths" though, haha