Computer Number Systems

All computers – from large mainframes to hand-held micros – ultimately can do one thing: detect whether an electrical signal is “on” or “off”. Computer programs in BASIC and Pascal are converted by various pieces of systems software into sequences of bits (Binary digITs) which correspond to sequences of on/off (equivalently TRUE/FALSE or 1/0) signals. Proficiency in the binary number system is essential to understanding how a computer works.

Number Systems