What Is Binary? - - - - - Binary is...

[Your Consience]

Binary is Base 2.

'What does that mean' you ask?

Think of it like this: We count in base ten, which means that for every column you have, one of 10 digits can be put there (0-9).

In Base two (binary) each column has only two digits that can be in it (0&1)


Writing numbers in binary works like this:

If you are counting up, then when you reach the highest number in a column, you add one to the column to the left, and then keep adding. In base 10 the highest number is 9, in base 2 the highest number is 1.

i.e.
when going from base 10 to base 2

1 = 1
2 = 10
3 = 11
4 = 100
5 = 101
......
9 = 1001
10 = 1010

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In a binary number:
i.e. 10010101
each column has a value. Starting on the right and going left, the columns are worth 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, etc....

Every column that has a 1 you count, and every column with a zero you don't count.

So in the number above (10010101) you have (going from right to left) 1, 4, 16, and 125. Add all those together and you get 146. So 10010101 in binary = 146 in base ten.

Using binary you can create any number because the sum of all columns to the right of the left-most column = the left-most column minus 1.
i.e. 100000 - 1 = 11111  

[Your Consience]

A side note on Base 16

Hexidecimal coloring, like letter coloring on gaia uses base 16, every column can be 0-9, or A-F - - - - - - - -
A=10, B=11, C=12, D=13, E=14, and F=15.
When you type code like #22dd85: each set of two columns (22, dd, and 85) is a measure of the amount of a particular color to blend to make the color you want. (the three sets of numbers corresponding to red, green and blue). Using base 16 you can get 256 different numbers in two columns.

(22 = 16x2 + 2 = 34 ;;;;;;;;;;; dd = 16x13 + 13 = 221 ;;;;;;;;;;;;; 85 = 16x8 + 5 = 133)

here's some example coding.

#ff0000 (red) #00ff00 (green) #0000ff (blue)
#ff00ff (pink) #ffff00 (Yellow) #00ffff (Aqua)