Binary Arithmetic

last modified: June 5, 2013

Binary Arithmetic is like regular arithmetic, but using binary rather than decimal numbers. In most computers, it is done with a fixed word size, with an extra bit to handle carry-over for exceeding it. See also BooleanLogic.

BinaryArithmetic is an example where simplification makes something very easy: Multiplication in decimal requires memorizing the times table, but in binary it is basically a copy. Example:

100101 * 101001   =   37 * 41
---------------       -------
100101                148     (37*4=120+28)
 000000                 37     (37*1)
  100101              ----
   000000              1   <- carry
    000000            1517
     100101
---------------
    1       <- carry
10111101101       =   1517

CategoryMath


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