Convert Decimal to Binary

A binary number is a number expressed in base-2, as opposed to conventional decimal numbers in base-10.

Below is a live calculator.

How the Calculator Works

Converting decimal numbers to binary in JavaScript is easy. For example, let x = 42 creates a new variable x that contains the base 10 number 42. JavaScript numbers have a toString() method that takes a radix parameter. Calling x.toString(2) tells JavaScript to convert x to a string containing the binary representation of 42.

let x = 42;

x.toString(2); // '101010'

The toString() method also handles non-integers and negative numbers. For example:

x = 3.14;
x.toString(2); // '11.001000111101011100001010001111010111000010100011111'

x = -7;
x.string(2); // '-111'

Mental Math

How do you quickly convert 7 to 111 in your head? It takes some practice to make it easy, but here's the procedure to convert a positive integer v to a binary string:

• Start with an empty string
• Take v modulo 2 and add it to the end of the string
• Repeat with Math.floor(v / 2) until you get to 0 or 1

Below is a JavaScript function that implements the above procedure:

function toBinary(v, str) {
  if (!Number.isSafeInteger(v) || v < 0) {
    throw new Error('v must be a non-negative integer');
  }
  if (v === 1) {
    return '1';
  }
  if (v === 0) {
    return '0';
  }
  return toBinary(Math.floor(v / 2)) + (v % 2);
}

Here's what the procedure looks like with 42:

1. 42 % 2 === 0, '0'
2. 21 % 2 === 1, '10'
3. 10 % 2 === 0, '010'
4. 5 % 2 === 1, '1010'
5. 2 % 2 === 0, '01010'
6. 1, '101010'

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