Converting a decimal number to its binary equivalent is a little more challenging.
Here's one approach.
- Find the highest power of 2 less than or equal to the decimal number. In your binary number, place a 1 in the position corresponding to this power of 2.
- Subtract the power of 2 found in step 1 from the decimal number to obtain a new decimal number. If the new decimal number is 0, then you are done; otherwise, return to step 1 with the new decimal number.
Click through the following SlideShow to convert the decimal number 204 to binary.
Binary numbers can require many digits. In the next lesson, you will look at how binary numbers can be expressed more compactly using hexadecimal form.