Learning the Binary System

This is a VERY easy concept to learn, it's amazing that the binary system is not common knowledge! In fact it's easier than the system you already know!




The Octal System


Decimal Number 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Octal Number 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 20 21 22 23 24

The octal system is radix-8, this system uses the numerals 0-7. This system is a great thing to know. When you're using the octal system, you can at a glance, know what number you are looking at in binary. Every three binary columns are an octal number. Let's look at a table:

Binary Number Decimal Equivalent Octal Equivalent
101101 32 + 8 + 4 + 1 = 4510 558 = 5 * 810 + 5 = 4510
111100 32 + 16 + 8 + 4 = 6010 748 = 7 * 810 + 4 = 4510

Every three binary columns can go from 0 - 7 in magnitude. This means you are either staring at a 1's column, a 2's column, or a 4's column. Every set of three to the left over you go, you add a * 8. (Cn).

        Where: c= columns to shift over, and n = power of set, with the exception of the first set where n = 0 (the 1's set)

/ ∞ \
| ∑ (c + 3) | ÷ 3 = n
\ c = 3 /

So let's break it down in another table:

Binary Number Octal Sets Conversion Equivalent
10110101 10 110 101 2 * 8210 + 6 * 8110 + 5 * 8010 = 18110


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