Binary Numbers

computers · math · code

Just two digits. Binary numbers use only 0 and 1, unlike the numbers you're used to (0 through 9). Everything a computer does is really just patterns of these two symbols.

How computers think. Inside computers, electricity flows through tiny switches that are either ON (1) or OFF (0). By combining millions of these switches, computers can represent any number, letter, or picture.

Base-2 system. Regular numbers are base-10 (counting 0 to 9), but binary is base-2 (counting 0 to 1). This means each position in a binary number represents a power of 2 instead of a power of 10.

Powers of two. In binary, the rightmost spot is worth 1, the next is worth 2, then 4, then 8, and so on, doubling each time. So the binary number 101 means 4 + 0 + 1, which equals 5 in regular numbers.

Simple but powerful. Even though binary only uses two digits, you can represent any number you can think of by arranging 0s and 1s in different patterns, which is why all digital technology relies on it.