How to convert any binary number to decimal?

Let us take a binary number 10010111. To make conversion easier let us write down numbers 0 to 7 under this binary number starting from the right side.

These numbers will represent powers of 2. For each '1' in the given binary number we will need to sum its power of 2 to get the decimal representation.

Thus:

1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

would mean that we need to sum up 27, 24, 22, 21 and 20. Accordingly, 128+16+4+2+1 = 151.

This technique will work with any size binary number, provided that you will sum up all the powers of 2 starting from 0 up to the number of digits in binary number minus 1.

MS
Answered by Mantas S. Computing tutor

6558 Views

See similar Computing GCSE tutors

Related Computing GCSE answers

All answers ▸

James would like to store a video clip that is 20 frames per second and has a duration of 76 seconds. The resolution of this video is 1280x720 with a colour depth of 24 bits. Calculate the storage requirement for the uncompressed video clip.


What is a Mutatable Data Structure?


What is Bubble Sort algorithm and how it works? Give an example of pseudo-code explaining the process.


Describe the process used by a binary search algorithm, and explain why binary search would not be appropriate for the list [3,2,5,7,9]


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning