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Convert between binary, hex and denary and see how each bit maps to its place value.
How to use it
Most students can follow the method when someone walks them through it. The problem is that binary and hex don't stick until the pattern becomes intuitive — and that only happens through repetition with immediate feedback. Type a number, watch the bits switch. Change one bit, watch the denary update. The relationship stops being a procedure and starts making sense.
Every bit has a place value. When you switch one on, the total changes by exactly that amount. When you switch it off, it disappears. The weighting line isn't an abstraction — it's the answer, laid out in front of you. Students who struggle with binary on paper often find it clicks the moment they can interact with it directly.
The step-by-step walkthrough follows the method examiners reward — one column at a time, in the right order. Work through it with a class on the board, or let students use it independently to check their own working. Covers the content tested in AQA, OCR, and Edexcel GCSE Computer Science.
Python Coach includes 27 lessons and 195 challenges — from a first print statement through to functions and file handling, all mapped to the GCSE specification.
| Thousands | Hundreds | Tens | Ones |
|---|---|---|---|
| ×1000 | ×100 | ×10 | ×1 |
| 4096s | 256s | 16s | 1s | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base pattern | 8, 4, 2, 1 | 8, 4, 2, 1 | 8, 4, 2, 1 | 8, 4, 2, 1 |
| Multiply by | ×4096 | ×256 | ×16 | ×1 |
| Actual weight | 32768, 16384, 8192, 4096 | 2048, 1024, 512, 256 | 128, 64, 32, 16 | 8, 4, 2, 1 |
In denary, each column going left is worth 10 times more. In a nibble, each group going left is worth 16 times more.