BinaryConverting from binary to denary

Understanding denary

People use the denary (or decimal) number system in their day-to-day lives. This system has 10 digits that we can use: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.

The value of each place value is calculated by multiplying by 10 (ie by the power of 10). The first few place values look like this:

Working out the value of 1024

Converting from binary to denary

To convert a binary number to denary, start by writing out the binary place values. In denary, the place values are 1, 10, 100, 1000, etc – each place value is 10 times bigger than the last. In binary, each place value is 2 times bigger than the last (ie increased by the power of 2). The first few binary place values look like this:

Working out the value of 1010 1000:

So 1010 1000 in binary is equal to 168 in denary.