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Binary Conversion

The document explains how to convert between decimal values, binary values, and characters, emphasizing the importance of binary in computer communication. It includes a binary conversion table to assist with conversions and provides examples for converting binary to decimal and vice versa. Additionally, it introduces character encoding standards like ASCII and UTF-8 that map binary values to readable characters.

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Régio Júnior
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10 views3 pages

Binary Conversion

The document explains how to convert between decimal values, binary values, and characters, emphasizing the importance of binary in computer communication. It includes a binary conversion table to assist with conversions and provides examples for converting binary to decimal and vice versa. Additionally, it introduces character encoding standards like ASCII and UTF-8 that map binary values to readable characters.

Uploaded by

Régio Júnior
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Binary Conversion

Decimal values, binary values, and characters are all used to communicate information.
Computers receive and communicate information with binary values, so the binary system
shapes the rules and conventions of how computers interact with one another. Being able to
convert binary values to decimal values or characters will help you better understand IT
infrastructure and computer networking. In this reading, you’ll learn more about converting
between decimal values, binary values, and characters. You’ll also practice using a binary
conversion table.

Use a table to convert between decimal and binary


By convention, decimal numbers are represented with 8 bits (1 byte) in binary. Each bit is either
a 0 or a 1, so 28 = 256 decimal numbers can be represented with 1 byte. Additionally, each bit
represents a specific decimal value based on its order in the byte. The 1st (leftmost) bit is 128,
and each bit after that is half the value of the previous one.

You can use a conversion table, like the one that follows, to convert from decimal to binary, and
vice versa:

1st bit 2nd bit 3rd bit 4th bit 5th bit 6th bit 7th bit 8th bit
Decimal value 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
Off or on

In this table, the “Decimal value” row displays the decimal value of each bit in the byte. For
example, the 3rd bit has a value of 32 and the 8th bit has a value of 1. To use this table for a
conversion, the “Off or on” row is filled to indicate if a bit is off (0) or on (1). Then, the numbers in
the “Decimal value” rows that have a 1 in the “Off or on” row of the same column are added
together to get the decimal value of the byte.

This might seem complicated, but it just takes some practice! In the next sections, you’ll use this
table to convert from binary to decimal values and from decimal to binary values.

Convert from binary to decimal values


To use the table to convert from binary to decimal values, enter the byte you want to convert into
the “Off or on” row. For example, to convert the byte 10011101 to a decimal value, fill the “Off or
on” row with the values of each bit in the byte, like this:
1st bit 2nd bit 3rd bit 4th bit 5th bit 6th bit 7th bit 8th bit
Decimal value 128 64 32 16 8 4 2
Off or on 1 0 0 1 1 1 0

In this example, 128 + 16 + 8 + 4 + 1 = 157. Therefore, the decimal value represented by the
binary number 10011101 is 157.

Convert from decimal to binary values


To use this table to convert from a decimal value to a binary value, put 0s and 1s in the “Off or
on” row of the table so that the sum of the decimal values of any columns that contain a 1 in the
“Off or on” row add up to the decimal value. For example, to convert the decimal value 87 to
binary, you’d fill out the table like this:

1st bit 2nd bit 3rd bit 4th bit 5th bit 6th bit 7th bit 8th bit
Decimal value 128 64 32 16 8 4 2
Off or on 0 1 0 1 0 1 1

The sum of 64 + 16 + 4 + 2 + 1 is 87, so the binary value that represents 87 is 01010111.

Try it yourself!
Now, practice on your own by completing the following practice problems:

1. Use the binary conversion table to convert the binary value 00010011 into a decimal value.
2. Use the binary conversion table to convert the decimal value 179 into a binary value.

Navigate to the end of this reading to check your answers.

Character encoding: From binary values to characters


As you learned earlier in this lesson, character encoding assigns binary values to characters so
that humans can read them. The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII)
was the first character encoding standard used. It uses one byte to represent each character in
the English alphabet, digits, and punctuation. Each byte maps to a specific character, so ASCII
can only represent 256 characters. The following table displays the ASCII table for the first 5
lowercase letters in the English alphabet:

Binary value Decimal value Character


01100001 97 a
01100010 98 b
Binary value Decimal value Character
01100011 99 c
01100100 100 d
01100101 101 e

UTF-8 is a newer standard that uses the same ASCII character encodings but allows characters
to be represented with more than one byte. This allows many more characters–and even
emojis–to be represented with binary.

Key takeaways
Computers communicate using binary, so it is important for IT support specialists to understand
how binary works and to be able to convert binary values into both decimal values and
characters. You can use a binary conversion table to help you convert between decimal and
binary values. You can use an ASCII or UTF-8 table to convert from binary or decimal values into
characters.

Practice exercise answers


1. Use the binary conversion table to convert the binary value 00010011 into a decimal value.
The decimal value of 00010011 is 19.
2. Use the binary conversion table to convert the decimal value 179 into a binary value. The
binary value of 179 is 10110011.

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