Question 1

What is binary?

Accepted Answer

Binary is a base-2 number system using only 0 and 1. It's the fundamental language of computers. Each binary digit (bit) represents a power of 2. For example, 1010 in binary = 1×8 + 0×4 + 1×2 + 0×1 = 10 in decimal.

Question 2

How do I convert decimal to binary?

Accepted Answer

Repeatedly divide the decimal number by 2 and record the remainders from bottom to top. For 13: 13÷2=6 R1, 6÷2=3 R0, 3÷2=1 R1, 1÷2=0 R1. Reading remainders bottom-up: 1101.

Question 3

How do I convert binary to decimal?

Accepted Answer

Multiply each bit by 2 raised to its position (starting from 0 on the right) and sum. For 1101: 1×2³ + 1×2² + 0×2¹ + 1×2⁰ = 8+4+0+1 = 13.

Question 4

What is hexadecimal?

Accepted Answer

Hexadecimal (hex) is a base-16 number system using digits 0-9 and letters A-F (where A=10, B=11, C=12, D=13, E=14, F=15). It's commonly used in computing for memory addresses, color codes (#FF0000 = red), and representing binary data compactly (each hex digit = 4 bits).

Question 5

How do I convert hexadecimal to binary?

Accepted Answer

Convert each hex digit to its 4-bit binary equivalent: 0=0000, 1=0001, 2=0010, 3=0011, 4=0100, 5=0101, 6=0110, 7=0111, 8=1000, 9=1001, A=1010, B=1011, C=1100, D=1101, E=1110, F=1111. For example, 2F = 0010 1111.

Question 6

How do binary arithmetic operations work?

Accepted Answer

Binary addition: 0+0=0, 0+1=1, 1+0=1, 1+1=10 (0 carry 1). Binary subtraction uses borrowing like decimal. Multiplication and division follow the same logic as decimal but with only 0s and 1s. Computers perform all calculations in binary at the hardware level.

Question 7

Why do computers use binary?

Accepted Answer

Computers use binary because electronic circuits have two states: on/off, high/low voltage, or magnetized/not magnetized. Binary is the simplest number system to implement reliably in hardware. Transistors act as switches that represent 1 (on) or 0 (off), forming the basis of all digital computing.

Question 8

What are common binary file sizes?

Accepted Answer

Binary prefixes: 1 KB = 2¹⁰ = 1,024 bytes, 1 MB = 2²⁰ = 1,048,576 bytes, 1 GB = 2³⁰ bytes, 1 TB = 2⁴⁰ bytes. Note that storage manufacturers often use decimal (1 GB = 10⁹), which is why a 500 GB drive shows ~465 GB in your computer.

💻 Binary Calculator

Number Converter

Binary Arithmetic

📖 Number Systems Explained

🔗 Related Tools