Counting In Binary

Binary is a base-2 number system. It uses only two digits:

• 0
• 1

Each position represents a power of 2, starting from 2⁰ on the right.

Example (right to left): … 2³ | 2² | 2¹ | 2⁰ … 8 | 4 | 2 | 1

Counting in binary follows the same principle as decimal: when you run out of digits, you carry over to the next position.

Decimal increments:

8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Binary increments:

0
1
10
11
100
101
110
111
1000

Every time you add 1 and the digit becomes "2" (which is illegal in base-2), you reset that position to 0 and carry 1 to the next position.

• Simplicity: hardware only needs two states (on/off, voltage/no voltage).
• Reliability: fewer states → higher tolerance to noise.