11.10.11

It’s time to sleep again, folks: today’s date is another binary number, 111011. 

Someone Yahooed to ask, how to change a base 10 number into a binary number? the number is 111011.  And here’s the answer – in fact, the best answer, as chosen by voters; who knew maths was so democratic?

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111011, base 2
= 1(2^5) + 1(2^4) + 1(2^3) + 0(2^2) + 1(2^1) + 1(2^0)
= 32 + 16 + 8 + 0 + 2 + 1
= 59, base 10

For the other way, decimal to binary:
59, base 10
Can 2^6 fit into 59? No.
Can 2^5 fit into 59? Yes.
59−32
=27
Can 2^4 fit into 27? Yes.
27−16
=11
Can 2^3 fit into 11? Yes.
11−8
=3
Can 2^2 fit into 3? No.
Can 2^1 fit into 3? Yes.
3−2
=1
Can 2^0 fit into 1? Yes.
1−1
=0

So, let’s look at what we have for our answers:
No (0)
Yes (1)
Yes (1)
Yes (1)
No (0)
Yes (1)
Yes (1)

Hmm… read it from top to bottom (ignore any zeroes in the beginning): 111011.
59, base 10 = 111011, base 2

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So there you have today’s date: of the geekest, by the geekest, for the geekest.

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Related articles

• How decimal numbers differ from binary numbers (wiki.answers.com)
• http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=3914289
• The Importance of Binary Numbers in Computing (ghacks.net)
• http://elainemcnulty.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/interesting-dates/