Binary – Combining 1s and 0s

This episode continues our discussion on the Basics of Digitizing Data. Let’s talk about the Base-2 or Binary Numbering System. This system uses a pattern of 1s and 0s. Computers use binary.

Your key takeaways are:

• Binary system is base-2 or positional power of 2
• 1 bit is a single digit
• 1 bit is either 0 or 1
• 1 byte is 8 bits
• Byte can be 0-255 or 256 possible values
• Computers use bytes

Study Notes

Combining 1s and 0s gives us a Base-2, or Binary Number System

Binary Number System Base-2

1. Base 2 means each position is an incremental power of 2
2. Like with Decimal, we start at the far right with 2⁰, which is 1
3. The lower table walks through the value when a 0 or 1 is in that position

What is the range of numbers when using 2⁰ to 2⁷?

Make sure that you understand how to compose numbers in binary before moving on.

Terminology

Term	Breakdown
Least Significant Bit (LSB)	The right most bit
Most Significant Bit (MSB)	The left most bit
Bit	A single 0 or 1; 1 digit
Byte	8 bits
Kilobytes (kb)	1,000 bytes
Megabytes (MB)	1,000,000 bytes
Gigabytes (MB)	1,000,000,000 bytes
Terabytes (MB)	1,000,000,000,000 bytes

Practical Uses of Binary

• State tracking
• Inventory systems
• RFID tracking systems

External Reference Articles

• Bookmark this page -> Decimal, binary, hex, and octal converter
• http://nookkin.com/articles/computer-science/why-computers-use-binary.ndoc
• http://nookkin.com/articles/computer-science/bitwise-operators.ndoc
• http://ascii.cl/conversion.htm
• http://www.rapidtables.com/math/number/Numeral_system.htm