Binary (Vocabulary: Science Terms)

BINARY (Vocabulary: Science Terms)

The number system we usually use is called "decimal" or "base-10." In it, there is no number for 10 per se: we count up in the "ones" column, and when we reach 10 we put a "1" in the "tens" column and a "0" in the "ones."

So as you may guess, in the "binary" (or "base-2") system, there is no figure for "2," but a "1" in the "twos" column. (As the decimal columns are 1, 10, 100, 1000, and so on--each ten times more than the last--the binary columns are 1, 2, 4, 8, and so on, each one twice the last.)

The easiest way to design a computer is to set things up in binary: on/off, yes/no and so on. A switch (or "gate") may be either open or closed; a series of open and closed switches can represent numbers, letters, and even pictures. Marvelous!

And so BINARY has become an important word for us.

The downside of a base-2 system is that small numbers can be mighty complicated to write: my age, for example, is only 66, but in base-2 it looks like 1000010 (that's 1 x 64 + 1 x 2)!

---

Navigation:

• View this post on Facebook or Instagram
• Go to the Mini-Lessons Index

(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)