Uploaded on the 14 April 2016 this document will describe what Binary is and how it is made up of two numbers... a simple 0 and 1.
You will find out how those two simple numbers on their own mean practically nothing to a computer and yet when put together in multiples of many thousands or trillions a computer understands them perfectly well. Indeed these two numbers are all a computer processor ever uses.
So for all the fancy graphics, games, number crunching, emailing, chatting, spreadsheets and everything else you do on a daily basis on a computer all that little chip inside your laptop, PC, tablet or smart phone does is calculate using a zero and a one!
As humans across the world we count in what is known as Base 10 mathematics or Denary. This means we count from 0 to 9 and as we have no number for ten we simply go back to zero and add one (being one above zero) to the left column while retaining a zero on the right, thus creating 10 (one unit of ten and no single units). From there we add one more each time creating 11, 12 and 13 etc. until we reach 19 and by adding one more we next get two zero or 20, meaning two units of ten and no single units.
And so it goes on into infinity. It is our convenient way to do addition. In Binary we count only with a 0 and 1. This is Base 2 mathematics. Thus addition goes like this: 0, 1, 10, 11, 100, 101, 110, 111, 1000, 1001 and so on. Though we do not say for 1000 "one thousand". In theory, and in practice at times, we can also count in any base we wish... say, Base 7. So we get 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20 etc.
A little unkown fact is that the Romans did NOT have a number zero. This explains the calendar where 1 BC suddenly becomes 1 AD the following year. Just thought I would drop that one in.
Adobe Reader is required to browse this file so if you do not already have Adobe Reader you can download it here and the link is near the lower right of screen.
Adobe Reader Download
Open, and download if required, Binary Bits and Bytes - A Tutorial v4 from the link below. The document will open in a new window. Binary Bits and Bytes - A Tutorial v4
Please remember that the document Binary Bits and Bytes - A Tutorial v4 is copyright and must not be edited, copied either manually or electronically, sold or republished in any way shape or form without the express written permission of the author(s). It is free for personal but not commercial use.