Representing Numbers and Letters with Binary: Crash Course Computer Science #4
CrashCourse・2 minutes read
Computers store and represent numerical data using binary values, with binary numbers being represented using 1s and 0s. Binary numbers work similarly to decimal numbers, requiring more digits to represent larger values and operating in 32-bit or 64-bit chunks.
Insights
- Binary numbers are fundamental in computer systems, using 1s and 0s to represent data, and require more digits (bits) to express larger values, with 8-bit numbers ranging from 0 to 255.
- Computers utilize different bit sizes like 32-bit or 64-bit to process data, with 64-bit numbers enabling the representation of vast quantities, and standards like IEEE 754 for handling floating-point numbers and ASCII for text representation.
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Recent questions
How do computers store numerical data?
Using binary values: true and false.
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Summary
00:00
Understanding Binary Numbers and Computer Data Storage
- Computers store and represent numerical data using binary values: true and false.
- Binary numbers are represented using 1s and 0s, with each column having a different multiplier.
- Binary numbers work similarly to decimal numbers, with each column being ten times larger than the one to its right.
- Binary numbers require more digits to represent larger values, with each digit being called a "bit."
- 8-bit numbers have a range from 0 to 255, with 256 different values.
- Bytes are composed of 8 bits, with kilobytes being 8000 bits and megabytes being a million bytes.
- Computers operate in 32-bit or 64-bit chunks, with 64-bit numbers capable of representing around 9.2 quintillion.
- Computers use the IEEE 754 standard to represent floating-point numbers, allowing for decimal values.
- ASCII was an early standard for representing text using numbers, with 7-bit codes encoding letters, symbols, and punctuation.
