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Digital Literacy Computer Basics Computer Basics Binary

Posted by Brad Stoltey
Brad Stoltey
133 Points

for each decimal over to the right is one so 00001 is 1 and 00010 is two. so wouldn't 000111 be 1+2+3=6?

just a little confused

2 Answers

Matt Coale
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Matt Coale
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Graduate 17,884 Points
Matt Coale
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Matt Coale
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Graduate 17,884 Points

Brad Stoltey Good question! Binary can be a bit confusing to figure out, especially at first. Afterall, it's a language for the computers and humans are definitely NOT computers... To hopefully help you understand this a little better, let's look at how a binary counter iterates from 0 to 10:

We'll start with 8 bits (1 byte): 00000000

  • 0 = 00000000
  • 1 = 00000001
  • 2 = 00000010
  • 3 = 00000011
  • 4 = 00000100
  • 5 = 00000101
  • 6 = 00000110
  • 7 = 00000111
  • 8 = 00001000
  • 9 = 00001001
  • 10 = 00001010

As I said, binary can be tricky. Basically, the further that first 1 gets shifted to the left, the larger the number. For example, if we continue on from 10...

  • 11 = 00001011
  • 12 = 00001100
  • 13 = 00001101
  • 14 = 00001110
  • 15 = 00001111
  • 16 = 0001000

If you need any additional help explaining this better, here is a resource I found that goes in depth on how binary works and it might be able to help answer any of those questions.

Also, for kicks and giggles, here is a project I made years ago that might help you visualize how this works.

Hope that helps!

Jason Anders
Jason Anders
Treehouse Moderator 145,860 Points
Jason Anders
Jason Anders
Treehouse Moderator 145,860 Points

Moderator Note: Changed reply from a Comment to an Answer, so post may record as being answered. Matt Coale if you could place future answer in the Answer section of the post. It makes it easier for the Community users to know when a question has been answered. It also allows for your answer to be upvoted by others or marked as Best Answers by the poster. The comment section is used when you request or require additional information from the the OP before being able to give an answer.

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Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,275 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,275 Points

You are correct that 00001 is 1 and 00010 is two. But 00100 is 4, so 1 + 2 + 4 = 7.