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Binary Conversion Worksheet

 Decimal System has 10 available numerals to create numbers.

 Binary has only two, but we can make all the same numbers

We can count with decimal numbers as follows:

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
…and we then run out of numbers and create a new column and continue:
10
11
12
13
14
…and so on. With binary we have only two available numerals, but we can make the same numbers:
0 (0)
1 (1)
10 (2)
11 (3)
100 (4)
101 (5)
110 (6)
111 (7)
1000 (8)
1001 (9)
1010 (10)

Based, on this, what would be the next numbers in the following decimal sequence?

25, 26, 27, 28, ___, ___, ___

Now how about this binary sequence?

11000, 11001, 11010, 11011, 11100, ______, ______, ______

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Binary Conversion Worksheet

How to convert from binary to decimal (using standard 8-character binary

numbers):

For perspective, consider a random decimal number, such as 458. We use these numbers every
day without thinking, but it can be broken down as follows:

(4 x 100) + (5 x 10) + (8 x 1) = 458

Hence the right-most column is the ones column, the middle column is the tens column, and
the left-most column is the hundreds column.

Binary operates in a similar manner, except that instead each column has a different value.
Let’s use another random binary number to illustrate, 10010101. Like decimal, it can be
expressed as follows:

(1 x 128) + (0 x 64) + (0 x 32) + (1 x 16) + (0 x 8) + (1 x 4) + (0 x 2) + (1 x 1) = 149

As you can see, the binary column values from left to right are 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, and 1. To
convert, you simply add up all of the places where there are ones.

Now, using the above system, see if you can convert the following binary numbers to decimal:

1111000 binary = ____ decimal

10101010 binary = ____ decimal

01101101 binary = ____ decimal

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Binary Conversion Worksheet

How to convert from decimal to binary

Decimal to binary conversion involves some simple grade-school level division. Let us consider the
decimal number 205 and convert it to binary.

Recall from the previous page that the largest decimal value in an 8-character binary number is 128. The
first thing we want to know is, does 128 go into 205? It does, so the first character of our 8-digit binary
number is a 1:

1_______

Now, subtract 128 from 205 and get your remainder, 77. The next number in the binary sequence is 64.
Does 64 go into the remainder, 77? It does, so the second number in our binary sequence is also a 1:

11______

Once again, subtract 64 from 77 and get the reminder, 13. Now go to the third number in the binary
sequence, 32. Does 32 go into 13? No, so our third number is a 0:

110_____

Same thing again with 16, which does not go into 13, so our 4th number is also a 0:

1100____

Next is 8, which goes into 13, so we get:

11001___

Now, subtract 8 from 13 to get 5. Next in our sequence is 4, which goes into 5, so we are now up to:

110011__

Subtract 4 from 5 to get 1. In our binary sequence we have two numbers left, 2 and 1. 2 does not go into
1 but 1 does, so our final binary number is:

11001101

Now, see if you can convert the following numbers to binary:

52 decimal = __________ binary

128 decimal = __________ binary

242 decimal = __________ binary

255 decimal = __________ binary