Skip to main content

How exactly does binary code work? - José Américo N L F Freitas

1,423,993 Views

16,240 Questions Answered

TEDEd Animation

Let’s Begin…

Imagine trying to use words to describe every scene in a film, every note in a song, or every street in your town. Now imagine trying to do it using only the numbers 1 and 0. Every time you use the Internet to watch a movie, listen to music, or check directions, that’s exactly what your device is doing, using the language of binary code. José Américo N L F de Freitas explains how binary works.

An interesting feature of the UTF-8 encoding is that you can switch an uppercase letter to lowercase by switching the 5th bit. What would be the binary sequence associated with 't'? What is the number associated with this sequence?

Sign in to answer question

About TED-Ed Animations

TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator José Américo NLF Freitas
  • Director Qa'ed Mai
  • Script Editor Alex Gendler
  • Animator Qa'ed Mai
  • Associate Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott, Elizabeth Cox
  • Content Producer Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal
  • Narrator Addison Anderson

More from Math In Real Life