Binary

Binary is a numbering system with two possible values 1 or 0. Using the 1’s and 0’s the computer can represent numbers using different patterns. In this system 1 is considered true because it will have a value and 0 is false because it will not have a value.

Binary works by looking at the number that the 1’s and 0’s are representing and adding them together. To get the value it is going to be 2 to the power of the place you are on (Counting starts at 0). For example, if you have 8 places then the first place is 2⁰ which will be 1. The second place is 2¹ or 2. The third is 2² or 4. You can keep doing this until you get to eight places with the eight being 2⁷ or 128.

Let's look at an example.

In the example above, the eighth-place is zero so it has no value. The seventh-place has a 1 meaning it will have the value of 64. The sixth-place has no value. The fifth-place has a value of 16. The fourth-place has a value of 8. The third-place has no value. The second-place has a value of 2. This first-place has no value. Add the values together (64 + 16 + 8 + 2) to get 90. So 01011010 is equal to 90.

For some practice try to figure out what number these represent.

00110100

11001000

00000111

10010101

Answers:

52, 200, 7, 149