How would 12 be represented in binary?
- Decimal (the system you use everyday) is a base-10 number system, meaning it only uses 10 digits: 0-9. - Binary is a base-2 number system, meaning it only uses 2 digits: 0 and 1. - The decimal system's place values are powers of 10, starting with power of 0: Thousand (10^3) Hundred (10^2) Ten (10^1) Unit (10^0) - The binary system's place values are powers of 2, starting with power of 0: 8 (2^3) 4 (2^2) 2 (2^1) 1 (2^0) To represent 12 in binary: 1. start at the left-most place value and ask yourself: Can I take 8 away from 12. 2. Yes we can, so calculate (12 - 8 = 4) and put a 1 under the the 8 column. 3. Move along one column and ask youself: Can I take 4 away from 4. 4. Yes we can, so calculate (4 - 4 = 0) and put a 1 under the 4 column. 5. Move along one column and ask youself: Can I take 2 away from 0. 6. As we have now reduced the number to zero, we are unable to do anymore substracting and so simply write a zero under the remaining empty columns. Answer: 1100
