BINARY NUMBERS
A Binary Number is made up of only 0s and 1s.
110100
Is an example of a Binary Number
There is no 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 in Binary!
Binary
0 Start at 0
• 1 Then 1
•• 10 Start back at 0 again, but add 1 on the left
••• 11
start back at 0 again, and add one to the number on the left...
•••• 100 ... but that number is already at 1 so it also goes back to 0 ...
... and 1 is added to the next position on the left
••••• 101
•••••• 110
••••••• 111
Start back at 0 again (for all 3 digits),
•••••••• 1000
add 1 on the left
Here are some equivalent values:
Decimal: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Binary: 0 1 10 11 100 101 110 111 1000 1001 1010 1011 1100 1101 1110 1111
Example: Adding the binary numbers 11 and 100
Write the numbers out using the column method. Start from the right, and simply add the
numbers.
111 is 7 if converted back to decimal.
Example: Adding two 1s in the same column
Sometimes a binary addition will require you to carry over values into the next highest
place-value column, eg when finding the sum of the binary numbers 0010 and 0111:
When adding two ones in the same column. In binary, 1+1 is 10 - it has to become 0
with 1 carried over.
1
1001 is 9 if converted back to denary. 2 + 7 = 9 in decimal
Position
In the Decimal System there are Ones, Tens, Hundreds, etc
In Binary there are Ones, Twos, Fours, etc, like this:
To convert from Binary to Decimal:
The halves position is multiplied by 2-1= x 1/2
The quarters position is multiplied by 2-2= x 1/4
The eighths position is multiplied by 2-3 = x 1/8
The ones position is multiplied by 20
The twos position is multiplied by 21
The fours position is multiplied by 22
The eights position is multiplied by 23 …….etc…
Example: What is 10012 in Decimal?
The "1" on the leftmost side is in the "2×2×2" position, so that means
1×2×2×2 (=8)
The "0" is in the "2×2" position, so that means 0×2×2 (=0)
The next "0" is in the "2" position, so that means 0×2 (=0)
The last "1" is in the ones position, so that means 1
Answer: 1001 binary = 1 x 23+ 0x22+ 0x21 +1x20= 8+0+0+1 = 9 in Decimal
2
Example: What is 10.112 in Decimal?
Answer: 10.11 binary = 1x21+0x20+1x1/2+1x1/4 = 2.75 in Decimal
Steps to Convert from Decimal to Binary
Write down the decimal number.
Divide the number by 2.
Write the result underneath.
Write the remainder on the right hand side. This will be 0 or 1.
Divide the result of the division by 2 and again write down the remainder.
Continue dividing and writing down remainders until the result of the division is 0.
The most significant bit (MSB) is at the bottom of the column of remainders
and the least significant bit (LSB) is at the top.
Example
Check: 100100112
= 1x27 +0x26+0x25+1x24+0x23+0x22+1x21+1x20 = 147 decimal
