BCD Basic Tutorial
Decimal Coded Binary (BCD) Explanation With Examples – When we learn electronic programming, we will use various number formats.
In computer number format, there are 4 of the most famous of number, like Binary, Decimal, Octal and Hexadecimal.
Binary numbers are numbers that consist of two values, is 0 and 1, for example 0000, 0011, 0110 and so on.
Representatives of one value in binary numbers are called bit.
For example, the binary value 0010 is called 4 bits or 10010110 is called 8 bits. 8 bits are also called 1 byte.
Decimal numbers are numbers that use the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
These numbers are often referred to as base-10 numbers, because they use 10 numbers.
Octal numbers are numbers that use the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
These numbers are often referred to as base 8 numbers.
Hexadecimal numbers are numbers that use numbers and letters 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, A, B, C, D, E, and F. with base 15 numbers.
There is one more number that is often used in microcontroller programming, namely Binary Coded Decimal (BCD).
What is BCD Mean?
Decimal Coded Binary is a binary number that follows a decimal number limit with a value range from 0 (0000) to 9 (1001).
In contrast to the hexadecimal value which has range from 0 (0000) to 15 or F (1111).
BCD code, using a 4-bit binary code from 0000 to 1001.So the binary value are:
0 = 0000
1 = 0001
2 = 0010
3 = 0011
4 = 0100
5 = 0101
6 = 0110
7 = 0111
8 = 1000
9 = 1001
If we want to represent the number 15 into BCD. 15 if written in the correct BCD code is:
0001 0101 (BCD)
If we want to present the number 39 into BCD. 39 if written in the correct BCD code is:
0011 1001 (BCD)
And if we want to represent the number 939 into BCD. 939 if written in the correct BCD code is:
1001 0011 1001 (BCD)
Then what are the advantages using Binary Coded Decimal? the advantage is makes converting decimal values to binary easier.
So what are the disadvantages of using this Binary Coded Decimal?
The disadvantage is that there is empty space in binary that is not used, above a value of 9 (1001) such as 10 (1010) to 15 (1111).
Hopefully this article is useful.