# Binary to Decimal Algorithm Explanation

I came across some code today for converting binary to decimal, and I realised that I don't fully understand how it works.

Here it is in Python:

#Binary to denary conversion
binary = input("Input a number in binary:")
denary = 0
for digit in binary:
# A left shift in binary means x2
denary = denary * 2 + int(digit)
print("Your denary number is: " + str(denary))


To help myself understand it I tried "converting" from base 10 to base 10. E.g.

For 246:

d = 0
d *= 10, d += 2, d = 2
d *= 10, d += 4, d = 24
d *= 10, d += 6, d= 246

I'm having trouble seeing how this works for binary to decimal though. Could someone please give me a clear explanation that's thorough and easy to follow?

• This doesn't actually translate binary to decimal. It translates a string assumed to contain 0's and 1's to a number. The number is then printed using a function printing numbers in decimal format. – gnasher729 Oct 20 at 20:12
• As gnasher729 noted, this algorithm just translates the ASCII sequence of characters '1' and '0', where '1' becomes a set bit and '0' becomes an unset bit at the corresponding positions, since it starts from the most significant bit and multiplication by 2 is the same as a shifting all bits one position to the left and inserting an unset bit on the right side. For the record, Python has a better way to do that: "denary = int(binary, 2)". The actual 'magic' of translating binary representation to decimal happens inside of "str(denary)" – ZyTelevan Oct 20 at 21:57