Binary Numbers

After having a break from Uni and coming back to Binary numbers, I again was feeling very overwhelmed. When I was at school, I loved maths so I was finding that I was getting very disappointed in myself because I just wasn't getting it.

I took a break from my studies and came back to try the game that was provided to us on moodle again to see if I could understand it the second time round.

Binary Game

Finally after a bit of repetition I started to get it. The next step was to then design a binary game that I could teach to my students. I was still in the early stages of learning what binary numbers were so I decided to do some research into games that were already available to us. After some research, I found a game that I thought I could teach well to my students. I am a visual and practical learner myself, so the reason I chose this game was because it is something you can do with your hands.

Lesson: Bits and Binary

Materials

• Your hand
• A pen

Procedure                     

1. Hold up one hand with fingers out-stretched.
2. Starting from left to right, write the numbers 16, 8, 4, 2 and 1 on your fingers. If you are holding up your left hand your thumb will be number 16 and your little finger will be number one and the reverse for your right hand.
3. We are going to use these numbers to add up to the number 26.
4. By holding up only your little finger on your left hand you have the number 1. Holding up only your ring finger you have the number two. To get number 3 you need to hold both your little and ring finger as 1 + 2 =3. To get the number twelve you hold up your index and middle fingers and leave the others down, 8 + 4 = 12.
5. Apologize to anyone you made a rude gesture at and tell them math is always this much fun.

How does this relate to binary numbers?                                  

1. Looking at your hand imagine that when your fingers are curled down that fingers represent the value of zero. Standing up right your fingers represent the number one.
2. So if all your fingers are curled down you would write your hand as 00000. If all your fingers are upright it would be 11111.
3. Using your left hand, hold up only your little finger, curl down your thumb and the other three fingers. This is the number 1 and is written in binary code as 00001. We can see this because the first four fingers (including your thumb) are curled down and only the last finger is standing.
4. The number 2 in binary code is 00010 because the ring finger is upright and the others are curled.
5. How would you write the number 12? You would need the finger with the number 8 written on it and the finger with the number 4, 8 + 4 = 12. And therefore, the binary code is 01100 as the second and third fingers are upright. The number 16 is 10000.

On this website, it also provided a YouTube visual which was also shown to us on moodle. After I had played the game provided to us, did some research, the video started to make more sense as well. 

Binary Part 1

Hopefully over the next few weeks of the course I will get a better understanding of binary numbers and it will sink in. I love that my mind is getting challenged again!

Reference-

Lord, M. (2011, December 4). Lesson: Bits and Binary. Retrieved April 20, 2015, from eGFI Dream up the Future: http://teachers.egfi-k12.org/bits-binary/