Binary Numeral System

“There are only 10 types of people in the world:

Those who understand binary and those who don’t”

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

At the end of this lesson, you are expected to:

1. Understand the use of binary numeral system in mathematics and digital electronics.
2. Convert a decimal numeral to a binary numeral and vice versa

PRE-TASK: Read the text below and answer the questions that follow.

Introduction to Digital Electronics

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/digital-electronics

1. Digital electronics is about designing and analysing circuits and although this could be done using only
the mathematical language of Boolean algebra introduced above, it is often more convenient to use circuit
diagrams to show how the logic gates are connected together. (Crowe, 1998)
2. Digital electronics operate on bits of course, which are used to form binary words. The bits can be represented as
binary, decimal, octal or hexadecimal, or other form. These binary numbers can be used to represent “real”
numbers. There are two basic types of arithmetic used in DSP, floating point or fixed point. Fixed point
numbers that have a fixed decimal point as part of the number. (Parker, 2017)
3. In digital electronics digital outputs are generated from digital inputs. If the output of the logic circuit depends only
on the present input values, we refer to the system as not having memory. Systems without memory are also
known as combinatorial logic circuits because they combine inputs to produce the output. Combinatorial
circuits can be constructed with gates alone. If, on the other hand, the output of the logic circuit depends on
present as well as past input values, we then refer to such a circuit as having memory, because such circuits
remember past input values. (Plonus, 2001)
4. Digital electronics can be thought of as dealing with a world that's either black or white (or 0/1 or true/false), with
no fuzzy gray areas between those levels. Samuel Wilensky (1991) tells how analog design is the art of working in
those gray areas, with designers required to optimize a circuit by sacrificing one parameter so another can be
enhanced. He uses the evolution of the digital to analog converter to show how advances in analog design come
through intuition and “feel” as much as through rigid application of fixed rules.
5. Almost all devices we use on a daily basis make use of digital electronics in some capacity. Digital electronics simply
refers to any kind of circuit that uses digital signals rather than analogue. It is constructed using circuits calls logic
gates, each of which performs a different function. The circuit will make use of different components that are all
standard, but that are put together in different combinations to achieve the desired result. It  circuit will also include
resistors and diodes, which are used to control current and voltage. (Paul, 2020)
6. Many of our household items make use of digital electronics. This could include laptops, televisions, remote
controls and other entertainment systems, to kitchen appliances like dishwashers and washing machines.
Computers are one of the most complex examples and will make use of numerous, complex circuits. There may be
millions of pathways within the circuit, depending on how complex the computer and its functions need to be.
(Paul, 2020)
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS:
Answer individually. Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper for submission.
1. Based on the text, what is digital electronics?
2. What do you think is the importance of digital electronics in today’s living?

LESSON
ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA defines Binary Number System as
A positional numeral system employing 2 as the base and so requiring only two different symbols for its digits, 0 and
1, instead of the usual 10 different symbols needed in the decimal system. The numbers from 0 to 10 are thus in binary
0, 1, 10, 11, 100, 101, 110, 111, 1000, 1001, and 1010. The importance of the binary system to information
theory and computer technology derives mainly from the compact and reliable manner in which 0s and 1s can be
represented in electromechanical devices with two states—such as “on-off,” “open-closed,” or “go–no go.” 

1. A Binary Number is made up of only 0s and 1s.

2. An example of a binary number is 110100.
3. There is no 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 in Binary!
4. A "bit" is a single binary digit. The number above has 6 bits.
5. A method of representing numbers that has 2 as its base and uses only the digits 0 and 1. Each successive digit
represents a power of 2. For example, 10011 represents (1 X 2 4) + (0 X 23) + (0 X 22) + (1 X 21) + (1 X 20), or 16 + 0
+ 0 + 2 + 1, or 19.
DECIMAL vs BINARY
Decimal counting
Decimal counting uses the ten symbols 0 through 9. Counting begins with the incremental substitution of the least
significant digit (rightmost digit) which is often called the first digit. When the available symbols for this position are
exhausted, the least significant digit is reset to 0, and the next digit of higher significance (one position to the left) is
incremented (overflow), and incremental substitution of the low-order digit resumes. This method of reset and overflow
is repeated for each digit of significance. Counting progresses as follows:
000, 001, 002, ... 007, 008, 009, (rightmost digit is reset to zero, and the digit to its left is incremented)
010, 011, 012, ...
090, 091, 092, ...097, 098, 099,(rightmost two digits are reset to zeroes, and next digit is incremented)
100, 101, 102, ...
Binary counting
Binary counting follows the same procedure, except that only the two symbols 0 and 1 are available. Thus, after a digit
reaches 1 in binary, an increment resets it to 0 but also causes an increment of the next digit to the left:
0000,
0001, (rightmost digit starts over, and next digit is incremented)
0010, 0011, (rightmost two digits start over, and next digit is incremented)
0100, 0101, 0110, 0111, (rightmost three digits start over, and the next digit is incremented)
1000, 1001, 1010, 1011, 1100, 1101, 1110, 1111 ...
In the binary system, each digit represents an increasing power of 2, with the rightmost digit representing 2 0, the next
representing 21, then 22, and so on. The value of a binary number is the sum of the powers of 2 represented by each
"1" digit. For example, the binary number 100101 is converted to decimal form as follows:
1001012 = [ ( 1 ) × 25 ] + [ ( 0 ) × 24 ] + [ ( 0 ) × 23 ] + [ ( 1 ) × 22 ] + [ ( 0 ) × 21 ] + [ ( 1 ) × 20 ]
 1001012 = [ 1 × 32 ] + [ 0 × 16 ] + [ 0 × 8 ] + [ 1 × 4 ] + [ 0 × 2 ] + [ 1 × 1 ]
1001012 = 3710

Fractions in binary arithmetic terminate only if 2 is the only prime factor in the denominator. As a result, 1/10 does not
have a finite binary representation (10 has prime factors 2 and 5). This causes 10 × 0.1 not to precisely equal 1
in floating-point arithmetic. As an example, to interpret the binary expression for 1/3 = .010101..., this means: 1/3 = 0
× 2−1 + 1 × 2−2 + 0 × 2−3 + 1 × 2−4 + ... = 0.3125 + ... An exact value cannot be found with a sum of a finite number of inverse
powers of two, the zeros and ones in the binary representation of 1/3 alternate forever.

How to Show that a Number is Binary

To show that a number is a binary number, follow it with a little 2 like this: 1012

This way people won't think it is the decimal number "101" (one hundred and one).

Example 1: What is 11112 in Decimal?

 The "1" on the left is in the "2×2×2" position, so that means 1×2×2×2 (=8)
 The next "1" is in the "2×2" position, so that means 1×2×2 (=4)
 The next "1" is in the "2" position, so that means 1×2 (=2)
 The last "1" is in the ones position, so that means 1
 Answer: 1111 = 8+4+2+1 = 15 in Decimal

Example 2: What is 10.112 in Decimal?

 The "1" is in the "2" position, so that means 1×2 (=2)

 The "0" is in the ones position, so that means 0
 The "1" on the right of the point is in the "halves" position, so that means 1×(1/2)
 The last "1" on the right side is in the "quarters" position, so that means 1×(1/4)
 So, 10.11 is 2+0+1/2+1/4 = 2.75 in Decimal

Test Yourself:

1. What is 10012 in Decimal?

2. What is 1.12 in Decimal?
3. What is 1000001102 in Decimal?

Here are some equivalent values:

Decimal: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
11
Binary: 0 1 10 11 100 101 111 1000 1001 1010 1011 1100 1101 1110 1111
0
Decimal: 20 25 30 40 50 100 200 500
1111
Binary: 10100 11001 101000 110010 1100100 11001000 111110100
0

CONVERSIO
N
Binary to Decimal
In the binary numbering system, a binary number such as 101100101 is expressed with a string of “1’s” and “0’s” with
each digit along the string from right to left having a value twice that of the previous digit. But as it is a binary digit it can
only have a value of either “1” or “0” therefore, q is equal to “2” (0 or 1) with its position indicating its weight within the
string.

Decimal Digit Value 256 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

Binary Digit Value 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1

By adding together ALL the decimal number values from right to left at the positions that are represented by a “1” gives
us:  (256) + (64) + (32) + (4) + (1) = 35710 or three hundred and fifty seven as a decimal number.
Then, we can convert binary to decimal by finding the decimal equivalent of the binary array of digits 1011001012 and
expanding the binary digits into a series with a base of  2 giving an equivalent of 35710 in decimal or denary.
Note that in number conversion systems “subscripts” are used to indicate the relevant base numbering system,
10012 = 910. If no subscript is used after a number, then it is generally assumed to be decimal.

Decimal to Binary
Repeated Division-by-2 Method

Dividing each decimal number by “2” as shown will give a result

Number 294   plus a remainder.
If the decimal number being divided is even then the result will
be whole and the remainder will be equal to “0”. If the decimal
divide by 2 number is odd then the result will not divide completely and the
remainder will be a “1”.
The binary result is obtained by placing all the remainders in
result 147 remainder 0  (LSB)
order with the least significant bit (LSB) being at the top and the
most significant bit (MSB) being at the bottom.
divide by 2

result 73 remainder 1

divide by 2

result 36 remainder 1

divide by 2

result 18 remainder 0

divide by 2

result 9 remainder 0

divide by 2
 result 4 remainder 1

divide by 2

result 2 remainder 0

divide by 2

result 1 remainder 0

divide by 2

result 0 remainder 1  (MSB)

This divide-by-2 decimal to binary conversion technique gives the decimal number 29410 an equivalent of 1001001102 in
binary, reading from right to left. This divide-by-2 method will also work for conversion to other number bases.
Then we can see that the main characteristics of a Binary Numbering System is that each “binary digit” or “bit” has a
value of either “1” or “0” with each bit having a weight or value double that of its previous bit starting from the lowest
or least significant bit (LSB) and this is called the “sum-of-weights” method.
So we can convert a decimal number into a binary number either by using the sum-of-weights method or by using the
repeated division-by-2 method, and convert binary to decimal by finding its sum-of-weights.

POST TASK.

Convert the following binary numbers to decimal

1) 10100011
2) 101101
3) 11101111
4) 110100101010
5) 1000010

Convert the following decimal numbers to binary

6) 163
7) 45
8) 3370
9) 239
10) 66