BTT 1O1 Computer Basics

Study Guide for The Journey Inside On-Line

Lessons
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/education/k1 g7de2/the-journey-inside/explore-the-curriculum/digital-
information.html

Unit 3 Digital Information

Watch the Video

Lesson 1: What is Binary Code?

1. Computers use a special code called binary to express the digital information
they process. What is a binary code?

People use all kinds of symbols, sounds, colors and body motions to express themselves. These
expressions are, in a sense, codessignals we use to communicate with one another.

Computers use a special code of their own to express the digital information they process. It's called the
binary code because it consists of only two symbols0s and 1s. (The "bi" in "binary" means two.)

2. Why do computers use binary code?

Why 0s and 1s? Because those are the only two numbers you need to express the flow of electricity through a transistor. It's
either on or it's off. On is 1, off is 0. Everything you say to a computer has to be put in terms of these two numbers.

Lesson 2: A Bit of This and a Bit of That

1. What is a bit?

For a computer to execute or respond to a command, it has to be translated into the only language a
computer knows: the 0s and 1s of the binary number system. The 0s and 1s represent the on and off of the
transistors.

What do you call one of these 0s or 1s? A bit. Which makes sense when you see how many of these bits it
takes to represent a word, number, color, graphic or sound. They really are just a "bit" of something
bigger

Lesson 3: How Computers Work With Pictures

1. What is a pixel? What 3 colours are they capable of displaying?

Picture this. A computer is made up of millions of electronic switches (transistors). They're either on or
off, open or closed.

Now picture this. Your computer screen has hundreds of thousands of dots arranged in rows and columns.
Each dot is a picture element or pixel. Each of these pixels displays some combination of red/green/blue
according to a device called a Video Graphic Array (VGA). The VGA translates binary-coded
information (0s and 1s) into the color combinations required to make up an image on your computer
screen.

Try creating colours by mixing: http://www.omsi.edu/tech/colormix.php or

https://www.pixilart.net/

Do Activity 1: Work and Play with pictures

What was the surprise that you discovered?.
No surprise because I did this last semester

Do Activity 2: Pixel Pictures

Print the screen before you convert to binary, cleanup the image in Paint and
paste it into this document.

Lesson 6: ASCII - An Alphabet for Computers

1. What is ASCII?

Do Activity 1: The Name Game?

What is your name in ASCII?

Do Activity 3: The ASCII Code Chart

What is the binary and decimal value for the letter A , the number 1, and
the 4 sign?

** Bonus: What is the 8 bit(digit) binary value of the number 99? What is
the decimal value of the binary number 1001 1010?