Binary is a numeral system expressed in the base-2 numeral system, and is the foundation of all computer operating systems. Binary, as the name suggests, consists of only two values (0 and 1, respectively), unlike the decimal system, which consists of ten values.
An example of how the binary system works can be seen in the example below. The twos in the first column represent the core value (2), and the numbers in superscript are exponents. For example, two squared (22) equals four, two cubed (23) equals eight, and so on.
| 27 | 26 | 25 | 24 | 23 | 22 | 21 | 20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 128 | 64 | 32 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 1 |