Computers and What is Binary Code?

Before computers were able to do anything more complex than addition, they first needed to be able to understand and process the two most basic elements of any computer program: 1s and 0s.

The original binary computers could only process these two states because they were limited to two separate channels or “logical wires” through which they could process and store data.

The earliest computers were solely made up of “0s” and “1s”, or “bits” as they are commonly referred to today.

However, these original binary computers soon became obsolete. Once computers started being able to read and process more than just “0s” and “1s”, the binary code system became obsolete.

Today, computers are able to store, process and store data much more efficiently than ever before.

Computers use a different and more advanced system known as binary code. Binary code is a way of representing data by using only two different states or values: 1s and 0s.

This system is used in computers to process and store data much more efficiently than the binary system.

Computers use the binary number system to store and process data. The decimal number system is a simple extension of the binary number system, and it is used for everyday tasks like telling time and calculating change.

Computers use a series of 1s and 0s to process and store data. This is known as binary code.

How binary code works

To understand how computers process data, it’s helpful to know a bit about how they store data.

A computer stores data either as charge (like a battery), magnetism (like a hard drive), or as heat (like a CPU).

When a computer stores data, it’s either writing “0s” or “1s”. When a computer reads data, it’s either converting “0s” to “1s” or vice versa.

Storing data as “0s” and “1s” is the basis of all computing.

To store data, computers use binary code. Binary code is a system that uses only two states or values to represent data: 1s and 0s.

The computers binary code works like this:

0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111 1000 1001 1010 1011 1100 1101 1110 1111

That big column of ones and zeros is known as a “byte” or “bit”. The three rows and eight columns make up a byte.

The example above is just eight bits, but because there are 3bytes in a byte, the complete binary code for this example would be this:

1111 1100 1111

What does binary code mean?

The example above should make it clear what binary code looks like, but let’s walk through what it means.

First, we have to define what a “1” and “0” mean. A “1” in binary code is a “1” and a “0” is a “0”.

That said, a “1” in binary code means something different from a “1” in English. A “1” in binary code is the highest possible numerical value.

For example, the word “one” in binary code is “00010010”. A “one” in binary code is “1”.

Because there are only two possible values for a “1” in binary code, there are only two possible values for a “0” as well: “00” or “0”.

So, every combination of numbers and letters we see above is a possible representation of data in binary code.

How to convert binary code to decimal

To convert a binary number to its equivalent decimal number, you can reverse each bit and use the same algorithm we discussed above to turn the binary numbers into letters.

For example, if the binary number 1001 was stored as four zeros and one ones in the computer, then reversing the bits would give us this:

000 0010 0001

Here’s another example:

1101 1001 1100

Decimal – The Numeric System

Decimal is a system of numbers that uses ten as its base. That is, ten is the number system used to count from zero up to nine and then back down to zero again.

There are different bases used in other systems of numbers such as Base Ten, but decimal is the most widely-known and used base.

The decimal system is what makes it possible to add, subtract, multiply and divide with whole numbers instead of using fractions or multiple of powers of ten.

Floating point representation – Numbers with decimal places

The decimal system is often used to represent numbers with more than two decimal places. The most common method of doing this is to place a decimal point between each pair of consecutive zeros and ones.

For example, the number 8,234.56 would be represented as follows:

8.23 456

Summary

Binary code is the system used to store and process data by computers. It works by using only two states or values to represent data: 1s and 0s.

To convert a binary number to its equivalent decimal number, you can reverse each bit and use the algorithm we discussed above to turn the binary numbers into letters.

To do a simple math problem using only decimal and binary numbers, simply break down the problem into smaller chunks and use the binary code for each piece.