{"id":1307,"date":"2021-08-06T14:16:45","date_gmt":"2021-08-06T13:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/?p=1307"},"modified":"2021-08-06T14:16:45","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T13:16:45","slug":"binary-understanding-how-computers-work-and-challenge-in-numeracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/2021\/08\/06\/binary-understanding-how-computers-work-and-challenge-in-numeracy\/","title":{"rendered":"BINARY: UNDERSTANDING HOW COMPUTERS WORK AND CHALLENGE IN NUMERACY"},"content":{"rendered":"

Computers\u00a0are mathematical machines that\u00a0operate on digital information, meaning the information is either \u2018off\u2019 or \u2018on\u2019. This is represented in computing with the binary number system, which only uses\u00a00 and 1.\u00a0These\u00a0<\/span>b<\/span><\/b>inary dig<\/span>its<\/span><\/b>\u00a0are called\u00a0<\/span>bits<\/span><\/b>\u00a0in computing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, in computing 0 = off and 1 = on. This allows computers to use a series of \u2018switches\u2019 to\u00a0make decisions\u00a0based on a series of logical decisions (this is what a computer programme or \u2018code\u2019 is).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These pages explore and explain binary further:\u00a0<\/span>
\nWhat is digital data? – BBC Bitesize<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Binary Number System (mathsisfun.com)<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond Programming: Binary (code.org)<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How computers see the world – Binary – KS3 Computer Science Revision – BBC Bitesize<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This could be explored from as early as First Level,\u00a0MTH 1-12a states that learners should have \u2018discussed the important part that numbers play in the world and explored a variety of systems that have been used by civilisations throughout history to record numbers.\u2019\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

CS Unplugged has 6 great activities to introduce the binary system to young learners<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Everything on a computer is represented by binary, including images. Every image is created on a grid with each box\u00a0on it\u00a0called a pixel.\u00a0Every pixel is either \u2018off\u2019 or \u2018on\u2019 and represented as 0 or\u00a01.\u00a0Once learners are confident with this concept you can even get them to calculate the size of larger binary pictures or coloured images \u2013 this involves multiples and conversion of units (every 8 bits is converted to a\u00a0<\/span>byte<\/span><\/b>!)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These are some fun\u00a0unplugged activities to introduce learners to binary representation of images:<\/span>
\nHow do digital images work? – BBC Bitesize<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Colour by numbers – CS Unplugged<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Binary Images (code.org)<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you are working with more confident\u00a0learners,\u00a0you might want to explore this even further. When the computer uses binary to \u2018make decisions\u2019 it is using Boolean logic, which is a form of algebra. Boolean\u00a0statements are either\u00a0\u2018false\u2019 or \u2018true\u2019\u00a0– that is they either meet a parameter or value, or they do not. In computing this is represented by binary, so FALSE = 0 and TRUE = 1.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Using Boolean logic in programming – Boolean logic – KS3 Computer Science Revision – BBC Bitesize<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Famous mathematicians involved in computing:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The modern binary number system was developed by\u00a0<\/span>Gottfried Leibniz<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in the 17<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0century.<\/span>
\nBoolean logic\u00a0was developed by\u00a0<\/span>George Boole<\/span><\/a>, a\u00a019<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0century\u00a0mathematician.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ada Lovelace<\/span><\/a>\u00a0invented the first computer programme in\u00a0the 19<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0century.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alan Turing<\/span><\/a>\u00a0was a mathematician who used one of the first ever computers, called\u00a0<\/span>Colossus<\/span><\/a>, to crack the German\u00a0communications\u00a0code during WWII, and helping the Allies\u00a0end\u00a0the war.<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Computers\u00a0are mathematical machines that\u00a0operate on digital information, meaning the information is either \u2018off\u2019 or \u2018on\u2019. This is represented in computing with the binary number system, which only uses\u00a00 and 1.\u00a0These\u00a0binary digits\u00a0are called\u00a0bits\u00a0in computing.\u00a0 So, in computing 0 = off and 1 = on. This allows computers to use a series of \u2018switches\u2019 to\u00a0make decisions\u00a0based on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61927,"featured_media":1309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[117,114],"class_list":["post-1307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-binary","tag-mathscs"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/public\/computingscience\/uploads\/sites\/9355\/2021\/08\/06141639\/binary-maths-in-cs.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1307"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1310,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions\/1310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}