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Math Behind the "Rules of Binary Addition & Subtraction"

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Tags: binarybinary-rulesbinary-additionbinary-subtraction

The binary addition and subtraction rules are not apparently clear to everyone. Students often resort to rote learning without understanding the true mathematical interpretation of the binary rules. This video explains and breaks down the rules mathematically and how the zeroes and ones interchange and move to different positions depending on whether the operation is addition or subtraction, resulting into a perfect binary output. As a practical example, this video uses two binary numbers, each comprising of six digits and subjecting them to addition and subtraction, in a two-step process. In the first step, I simply operate them under binary rules and thereafter in the second step, through a algebraic operations, breaking each position step by step. Understanding the algebraic operations provides a full clarity to students why the rules behave they way they do, thereby providing full clarity to students.

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4.59 Overall score*

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8 Votes

4 Comments

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Understandable presentation. However, it was very theoretical. It would be nice to have some context to make it more interesting for students.

The general topic of the video is quite basic and I am sure that there are many other videos explaining this, so my main critique point of this video is a lack in novelty and memorability. But apart from that the video is decent. The explanations are clear and understandable although it is getting a bit repetitive after a while, but this is also due to the subject matter.

4.3

So I think you’ve provided a pretty good explanation of the addition and subtraction algorithms here, but I struggle just slightly to see who it’s for: in my experience helping people with this topic, I see much less that people have forgotten how primary school addition and subtraction work and moreso that they haven’t yet truly grasped the way that the binary number system really works, in terms of really thinking through the fact that it’s a base-2 positional system. Resultingly, I think I’d prioritize emphasis on some of these things a little differently: I think the point of this explanation is to reinforce how base 2 works, and then show how from there the algorithms the students are already familiar with still work in that new system. (I also think that there should probably be some mention of two’s complement, since students who are doing this sort of operation are likely to be learning about how numbers work in computers, and even if you don’t intend to talk about two’s complement as part of this, mentioning that it exists so they know they’re missing a piece of the puzzle is probably beneficial.)

I do also think there are a few details in the execution that could be cleaned up a bit. The examples are a touch long and repetitive, to the point where I think it could harm student engagement: either shortcutting some of the higher-order digits once you’ve established the point, or making the numbers themselves smaller, might help aid the flow of the video a bit. I also don’t want to nitpick visuals too much, but in particular I think the dark red pen on a blackboard is something that could harm the function of your video in certain cases, as an accessibility issue or any sort of group viewing situation where people are further from the screen. It’s a small choice, but it can really make a difference.

I think you’ve got a good start here, some of these considerations might just help push things a bit further. Keep it up!

This is a very clear visual explainer of binary addition and subtraction. It would be helpful for students who are confused by binary when first encountering it. It is the normal explanation given in most classes. it could be extended to include other bases. The presentation is good but a little dry.