Subj : Re: A binary question To : comp.programming From : Gerry Quinn Date : Wed Jul 06 2005 12:06 pm In article , far@way.gone says... > I'm not good with computers or programming, so this seemed to be the > right place to ask this. In a pictorial representation, is the binary > > 10001001 > > is the same as > > 1000 > 1001 > > ? > > I suppose the real question is whether or not binary is read from left > to right. > > Thanks! Your question is a little bit like asking whether: 745963224356 is the same as 745963 224356 It all depends on what the person making the pictorial representation meant by putting things on two lines! Was there just not enough room on one line, or are the two numbers meant to be separate? If the data is binary numbers, it's not really a case of reading from left to right or right to left. The convention is that just like ordinary numbers, the rightmost one is the smallest. Whether you read 406 as 'four hundred and six' or 'six and four hundred' doesn't affect the number. Just don't mistake it for 'six hundred and four'. - Gerry Quinn .