Binary Multiplication
Binary multiplication are actually a lot easier than they sound. It’s like long multiplication and long division, but with far fewer numbers to worry about, as you only have to deal with 1s and 0s. Once you’ve learned the process, doing it is quick and painless.
Watch the video and then answer the questions below.
Five-minute video
You can also view this video on YouTube
Key Points
Binary Multiplication
- Binary multiplication is a addition with a series of shifts.
- We write it out as long-form multiplication.
- We multiply each digit in the bottom number by every digit in the top number in turn, and write the answers in a row. Make sure you put the answers in the right column!
- Once we’ve multiplied each pair of digits, we add up the rows to get our answer.
101
x 10
------
000
+ 1010
------
1010
Binary Division
- Binary division involves comparing pairs of numbers and subtraction.
- Set it up like a long division problem.
- Watch the video to see the method.
1011010 / 10 = 0101101
0101101
-------
10 | 1011010
- 10
--------
011
- 10
-------
010
- 10
------
0010
- 10
---
0
Questions
1. Check your understanding
Use pen and paper to simplify the following expressions, then check your answers here.
Write your answers in binary. Do not use a prefix or any leading zeroes in your answers.
1. Multiplication
2. Division
If your answers have remainders, write them using an r, like this: 1101r10.
Summary
In this section we learned multiplication and division with binary numbers.
- You should be able to multiply and divide binary numbers.
You can now move on to the challenges for this topic.