In this article I’ll show you the basics of how to read and write binary numbers.

Don’t kill me§

This article is oversimplified, and i know that not in every case of writing/reading binary it works like this, but it does in it’s majority, so I’ll find it useful.

The basics§

As you might know, computers use 0s and 1s everywhere to represent everything.

That combination of 0s and 1s is called binary langauge. Every 0 and 1 is called a bit. If you combine 8 bits, you can create what is called a byte. Humans can write and read bytes pretty easily, in this article I’ll show you how.

Reading§

A byte looks something like this: 01000101. We read bytes from right to left.

Each bit represents a number, starting from right: the first one is 1, then 2, thhen 4, then 8.. and finally 128.

We have the result starting with 0.

For each bit from right to left, if it’s 1 we add it’s value to the result. Else, we ignore it / add 0.

The example byte, 01000101 can be read like this:

0 + 64 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 4 + 0 + 1 = 69 (nice!)

Writing§

If you know how to read, writing is very easy!

You just have to remember the bit values, and you’re done.

I recommend trying it on this page I made: https://practice-binary.vercel.app. Good luck!