Digital Logic

Abstract

Computers are made up of what can be thought of as tiny switches that are either on or off, and therefore can only process ones and zeros. If you represent on as the number 1 and off as the number 0, you are left with the problem of figuring out a way to calculate using one ones and zeros. Computer scientists solved this problem by doing calculations in binary (base 2) arithmetic, which uses only the digits 0 and 1 to represent any number, just as our familiar base 10 arithmetic uses the digits 0 through 9. Search online for tutorials on “binary arithmetic” to learn more about this—we like one at the Khan Academy (www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra-home/alg-intro-to-algebra/algebra-alternate-number-bases/v/number-systems-introduction) and also this one: http://ryanstutorials.net/binary-tutorial/binary-arithmetic.php.