Lab 4 · Binary, Decimal and Hex Conversion Lab

🎯 Objective

Make number systems practical: convert in all directions and explain what each system is used for in real computing.

🧩 Skills You Will Practice

• Binary place values
• Decimal to binary division method
• Hexadecimal digits A–F
• ASCII and RGB colour codes

🧰 What You Need

• Paper and pen
• Calculator in programmer mode or a phone calculator
• ASCII table (from the Binary lesson)
• This worksheet in your notebook

📋 Step-by-Step Tasks

1. Write place values for 8 bits: 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1. Convert binary 10110100 to decimal by adding the values under each 1. Show your working, do not jump to the answer.
2. Convert decimal 77, 150 and 255 to binary using repeated division by 2, writing remainders and reading them bottom-up. Verify each with the calculator.
3. Group binary 1111110010101011 into sets of 4 bits and convert each group to one hex digit to get the full hexadecimal value. Then convert hex 3F and A9 back to decimal.
4. Take the first two letters of your name, find their ASCII decimal codes, and write each as an 8-bit binary value.
5. Decode a colour: hex #22C55E is RGB — convert 22, C5 and 5E from hex to decimal and state which channel (red, green, blue) each number controls.
6. Create 5 conversion questions of your own, solve them on a separate page, then check with the calculator and mark your accuracy out of 15 total conversions.

✅ Expected Result / Deliverable

A completed worksheet with at least 15 conversions, working shown, calculator-verified, accuracy marked — plus one sentence each for where binary, hex and ASCII are used.

⚠️ Common Mistakes

• Reading division remainders top-down
• Dropping leading zeros in 8-bit ASCII
• Treating hex letters A–F as decoration instead of values 10–15