There are 10 types of people in the world...

Those that understand binary, and those that don't.

Don’t get it? Don’t worry you will... Inspiration for this post came from my most recent geektastic purchase, it is this - a binary LED clock!


Binary numbers let you represent any number you like using 1's and 0's only. "Why?" -I hear you ask. Well that’s because this is computer speak and computers like knowing about 'state' (whether something is on or off, 1 or 0).

Normally when you look at binary code you would read from the right:

• The first digit from the right is the number of 1s (so 0001 = 1)
• The second digit from the right is the number of 2s (0010 = 2)
• The third digit from the right is the number of 4s (0100 = 4)
• The fourth digit from the right is the number of 8s (1000 = 8)

Some examples would be 1111 (=15), 1010 (=10), 111 (=7)

However my new gadget needs reading from left to right for hours, minutes and seconds; and then from bottom to top to work out how many of each. So, in the picture above, the time is 10.48 and 36 seconds:


Go fellow geeks - impress your friends with your amazing mathematical skills