1010011010: Binary and the mark of the beast

‘There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who don’t.’

Source: NT Wrong

My recent post 11111: The Binary Biblical Studies Carnival Meme played on the fact that 31 in decimal is 11111 in binary. If you don’t know how to count in binary, I’d like to give you a quick tutorial.

But first, why do you need to know how to count in binary? Well, frankly, there is no good reason to count in binary. It’s useful only if you make a habit of communicating with computers in their native tongue. Every once in a while however it is fun to play with.

0 to 10 in Binary

Decimal	Binary
0	0
1	1
2	10
3	11
4	100
5	101
6	110
7	111
8	1000
9	1001
10	1010

Do you see how it works?

Here’s 31 in binary: 11111

16+	8+	4+	2+	1=31
1	1	1	1	1

Now does it make sense?

OK, now let’s do some tricks.

Convert any decimal to binary with a wave of your magic pencil

The important thing to notice about binary is that the place on the far left is equal to the sum of all the numbers to its right plus one. Make sense? So, in our example above, the 1 in the fifth place is equal to 16 in decimal. Therefore, the sum of all the numbers to its right is 15.

So let’s take a number like 53. What is it in binary?

53 falls between 32 and 64 so our binary number will have six places. The remainder is 11. So I start from the right and build up 11 in binary to get the following number:

32+		8+		2+	1=53
1	0	1	0	1	1

This calls for binary wisdom

Now let’s try a more interesting number. How about the mark of the beast: 666.

I realize that the closest number on the binary number line (where each number is double the number on its right) is 512. So I start with 512:

512+		128+			16+	8+		2=	666
1	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	0

So, the mark of the beast is 1010011010.

Notice anything sinister about that number? Seen it anywhere before? On your credit card perhaps?

Well, I’ll leave you to ponder your end times destiny.

---

Related post: Translating temperatures in your head