Your computer speaks a language made up of only two numerals: 0 and 1. This two-numeral form of communication is called machine language; the numerals combine to form binary numbers. Machine language uses binary numbers to form instructions for the chips and microprocessing devices that drive computing devices -- such as computers, printers, hard disk drives, and so on.

You may have heard the terms bit (short for binary digit) and byte. A bit is the smallest unit used by your computer and can be either a 1 or a 0. A byte consists of 8 bits (more about bytes later). Because binary numbers consist of only 1's and 0's, binary number values appear different