Binary Essay -- Math

Do you remember watching the movie, The Matrix? Do you remember the green columns of zeroes and ones that were streaming down the screen? Those ones and zeros are part of a numbering system called Binary. Binary is a simple system that only utilizes two character symbols but accomplishes large counting tasks. Binary is not a number system you would want to use for everyday tasks because there are no shortcuts, you have to do the equation the same way every time and it takes a long time to do most calculations. That is why we use what is called the Denary (AKA Decimal) number system. The Denary number system is called a base-10 system as opposed to Binary being called a base-2 system. Base-10 means that the system uses ten different characters as symbols, 0-9. As stated above Binary uses only two character symbols, 0-1. The chart below should demonstrate how the two system look compared to one another. Denary Binary Denary Binary 1 1 11 1011 2 10 12 1100 3 11 13 1101 4 100 14 1110 5 101 15 1111 6 110 16 10000 7 111 17 10001 8 1000 18 10010 9 1001 19 10011 10 1010 20 10100 Binary has operations just like the Denary system has. Binary addition is the operation that is the most basic and also should give the best example of how the system works. In the Denary system addition works by placing one digit above the other and adding there values. The same goes for Binary. The only difference is how you add zeros and ones. If one has 1+0 or 0+1 the answer is 1. Or if one 0+0 the answer one would get is 0. That all is straight forward but when one gets 1+1 the answer is 10. The reason for this is because there is not a 2 in Binary, but if there were it is 10. Examples of each systems addition is below. Denary Binary 5 ... ...Binary Number System | World of Mathematics Summary, n.d.). This led to Binary being called the machine language because it is very easy to interpret 0 and 1. A machine such as computer can see 0 and 1 as on and off (Leverkuhn, n.d.). For example, a computer processor has inside of it millions of switches that can be turned on and off. This system of on and off tells the computer what it needs to do. Computers may seem as if they have a brain and have very high intelligence but in reality they are just listening for a bell to toll to perform a desired action. Dr. Ka-Wing Wong, Head of Computer Science at Eastern Kentucky University would say, â€Å"Computers are stupid.† Binary is the basis for the Computer Science field communicates with computer. This is also the main purpose of Binary in today’s world. Without Binary the world would be less technologically advanced.