Binary Basics
If you grew up around computers, you hear a lot of terminologies thrown around when it comes to components or measurements. Things like CPU, RAM, Graphics Card, Motherboard, are all common terms for parts that make up a computer build from an overarching perspective. The term binary is another term that gets a lot of attention, but without the requisite familiarity that comes with the other well-known parts.
Binary is the smallest unit of data in computing, represented through 1’s and 0’s, and is the way that data is stored. At its core, binary tells us what state the billions of transistors that make up the CPU are in. Transistors, also known as bits, are tiny switches that are located on a CPU, that can either be on or off. 8 bits grouped together are what’s known to us as a byte. The more bits present, the more data that becomes available. Contrary to popular belief, the 1’s and 0’s are just a digital representation of the transistors itself. Whether a transistor is on or off determines whether the binary will show 1 or 0.
Everything that is processed on a computer can be boiled down to binary. Whether it be text, audio files, video games, it all parses down into binary form, which is then taken in by the transistors through electrical current. How does a CPU analyze images and audio through numbers? To understand that, we have to know how binary numbers work.
Since binary is only represented by 0 and 1, we have to increase our places by an exponent of 2, as opposed to an exponent of 10 like we do. A 1’s place, 2’s place, 4’s, 8’s, 16’s, 32’s, 64’s, 128’s place can represent a binary number that will translate to up to 255 in denary. You simply add up the numbers that are inhabited by a 1 to get the denary expression. Referencing the picture above, the 1 is in the 128’s place, the 16’s place, the 8’s place, the 2’s place, and the 1’s place. If you add those together, you will get 155. If you want to get from 155 to binary, you just reverse engineer. 128 goes into 155, so you place a 1. Adding 64 or 32 to 128 will take it above 155, so you place 0’s there. Adding 16 to 128 will give you 144, so you place a 1. Adding 8 to 144 will give you 152, so you place a 1. 4 will take you over, so place a 0. Adding 2 and then finally 1 will get you exactly 155 so you put 1’s in both places, giving you the binary number of 10011011.
Although it’s simple to grasp how binaries work in a very direct way as we did above, it’s a little head-scratching to think that we can convert audio and images into numbers to be passed through the CPU. As far as audio goes, we can talk about a familiar phrase called 8-bit audio. Something you’ve most likely heard of through old games like Super Mario Bros. Sound can be represented physically through their waveform, which is what you see above, as well as represented numerically because of the plot points on the graph. Because of these numeric values that are determined through the plot points on the graph, they can also be transformed into binary data. To recall an important piece of information, more bits equals more data. In audio’s case, more bits equals better quality sound.
In the case of images and videos into numbers, think of it as a color by number picture. Which coincidentally, is a perfect summary of how color gets transferred into binary. A 4k tv is made up of around 4.3 million pixels. Each of those pixels outputs a color, and each color has a numerical value assigned to it on the various color gamuts. Those numbers then get turned into binary information that the CPU can read. Knowing what we know about binary, that is an unbelievably large amount of information that gets handled by our CPU continuously, especially when you delve into videos and video games.
The fascinating thing about how advanced technology has become is the fact that we have all this computational information coming from a transistor that can either be on or off. A 1 or a 0. Imagine the overwhelming increase in power that would be available to us if we developed a way to improve upon transistors to allow us to use multiple currents and the denary system. Then I’d have to write another blog.
