Subj : Re: A binary question
To   : comp.programming
From : Augustus
Date : Wed Jul 06 2005 04:05 pm

Thanks!





In article <MPG.1d35bd969d91235f98a279@news.indigo.ie>,
 Gerry Quinn <gerryq@DELETETHISindigo.ie> wrote:

> In article <far-F7AC10.22472705072005@news.uswest.net>, 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

.