I know that MARIE's instruction set has 16-bit per instruction, given that there are 9 instructions, doesn't it make sense that 16*9 = 144bits are needed to store all of the instruction? But apparently its wrong, whats wrong with my reasoning and can you guide me to the answer?
I think you are looking for the following data structure
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| Opcode | Address |
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| _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
-------------------------------------
Bit Bit Bit Bit
15 12 11 0
as Paul R and Peter Cordes already mentioned in his comments.