A number in Binary representation is a combination of only two digits i.e. 0 and 1. For example, consider the number 341.45 which is in decimal notation. This number can  be interpreted as

$3×{102}^{}+4×{101}^{}+1×{100}^{}+4×{10}^{–1}+5×{10}^{–2}$

In this case, 10 is called the base or the radix of the number system. There are 10 symbols or digits in this system namely 0, 1,2,3,…,9. Any set of symbols greater than 1 may be used as a base for a number system. The simplest such system has two symbols 0 and 1. This is the base 2 or binary system. In this system a number would be interpreted as:

where () can each assume a value 0 or 1. Thus, for example the number 101.011 in binary system would be interpreted as:

Given the binary number the procedure above gives a technique to determine the equivalent decimal number. The reverse, namely , given a decimal number converting it to binary is also straightforward. for example given the number 14.875 in base 10 system its binary equivalent is found by determining the positive and negative powers of 2 whose sum makes up the above number. it is achieved by tackling the integer and fractional parts separately. The integral part is successively divided by 2 as shown below: