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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Have your dc learnt about binary / counting in bases other than 10 in maths?

59 replies

Sadik · 05/07/2017 18:16

Just curious - dd went on an event today for yr 10 pupils interested in taking maths/further maths A level. She was telling me about it, and that in one of the sessions the opening qu. was along the lines of 'who knows what binary is'. She gave a minimal summary answer assuming this was a noddy-lets-get-this-started question, but it became apparant that many of the others there either hadn't heard of binary at all or didn't really understand what it was.

We talked about it, and she says that she thinks they haven't ever actually studied non-base 10 counting in school (she knows about it because 'well, y'know, it just is, isn't it').

I'm sure even in the depths of history 1970s we did non-base-10 counting in primary (at a minimal level - wiggling our toes to count in base 20 - that sort of thing). I also don't quite see how you understand place value if you don't do not-base-10-counting? (Or understand how your computer works if you don't know what binary is )

OP posts:

Blissx · 06/07/2017 09:06

but loads of kids are sitting comp science with calcs that can't do hexadecimal but look like they should.

Calculators are not allowed in the current GCSE or A Level Computing/Computer Science exams and we have also had confirmation that they are not allowed in the new GCSE 9-1 Computer Science course or the A Level Computer Science exams....

Blissx · 06/07/2017 09:04

I wonder why it's not in the curriculum

But it is on the curriculum, as Kitty has pointed out!

noblegiraffe · 05/07/2017 23:00

Fun fact: Casio calculators used to convert to binary and hexadecimal, which is why they have A,B,C,D,E,F on them and you could type ICE ICE BABY.

Then they took the other base options away but left the A B C D E F as you can use them as variables to store values.

Now they have reinstated changing base on later models, but loads of kids are sitting comp science with calcs that can't do hexadecimal but look like they should.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 05/07/2017 22:39

It was in the original draft for year 6 Except there was the most almighty fuss made about it and I'm assuming it must have been dropped.

Although, now you mention Roman numerals, I think it was those that were in the Rose curriculum, not binary.

BertieBotts · 05/07/2017 22:32

I remember doing it in year 10 or 11, can't remember which.

TalkinPeece · 05/07/2017 22:32

noble
probably just their teachers then - trying to flesh out the bits of the course that were there

and yes, Gove is an utter Twat

LtGreggs · 05/07/2017 22:27

We showed our DC for fun when they were about 6 or 7 (not geniuses, but quite keen on mathsy stuff). I wonder why it's not in the curriculum, given it is fun, useful (on the computing side) and reinforces the concept of place value.

KittyVonCatsington · 05/07/2017 22:26

Gove-what a twat!

My A Level Computer Science students have always done fixed and floating point binary as well, including normalising them in Two's Complement form. Now that's always fun!

Original poster

Sadik · 05/07/2017 22:21

Now that is random, noble

OP posts:

noblegiraffe · 05/07/2017 22:18

Binary and hexadecimal aren't in Further Maths GCSE.

Binary isn't on the primary maths curriculum either, but Gove made sure that Roman numerals up to 1000 are

TalkinPeece · 05/07/2017 22:09

Both DCs covered Binary and Hex in Further Maths GCSE and DS did more on it in Computing GCSE
"convert to base" was in the GCSE
and chatting about up to base 60 (Maya) was add on work

CrazedZombie · 05/07/2017 21:53

They learned in computer science (y7)

KittyVonCatsington · 05/07/2017 21:41

Hex is taught in Year 10 with my lot (converting to binary and denary and back)

KittyVonCatsington · 05/07/2017 21:40

Computer Science teacher here and it is taught at key stage 3 (my Year 7s can do basic binary/denary conversions and my Year 8s can add and multiply binary digits)

The revised Computing curriculum is new though so will take a while to filter to all schools but it is taught currently in most.

childmaintenanceserviceinquiry · 05/07/2017 21:35

I did a module at uni on this. Cant believe it it isnt really taught in maths at school.

hippyhippyshake · 05/07/2017 21:03

Aah, good to see Hex is still used! Denary is just the technical term for base 10 iirc

ragged · 05/07/2017 20:23

DD (yr10) just finished computing GCSE. Says she knows about Deenary (dinary?), binary & hex.

BigGreenOlives · 05/07/2017 20:20

We did different bases at school in the 70s but only ever used metric measurements. I find it really annoying that I'm approaching 50, was only ever taught cm, C & kg & we still have distances measured in miles.

Original poster

Sadik · 05/07/2017 20:16

DD points out that these days you need hex for web colours hippy

Maybe decimal / other bases were more of a thing in 70s primary both because of imperial measures, and then also because computing was evidently the future and (back then) involved understanding binary / hexadecimal.

OP posts:

ImperialBlether · 05/07/2017 20:13

Teen.

hippyhippyshake · 05/07/2017 19:31

Binary (base 2) and Hexadecimal (base 16) were fundamental for us computer programmers back in the 70s. Also pre-1971 we had base 12 for money and length.

TeenAndTween · 05/07/2017 19:24

I learned about bases last year of primary back in the late 70s.
I learned how to convert between decimal and other bases.
DD1 didn't do it in secondary, but tells me set 1 did.

There are 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary, and those who don't.

TheSecondOfHerName · 05/07/2017 19:03

I learned to convert between base 10 and base X before starting secondary school.

My children have learned a little about binary and hexadecimal, but they did this in Computer Science lessons rather than in Maths.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 05/07/2017 19:02

It was in the original draft of the new primary maths curriculum, not sure if it got taken out.

I think Jim Rose might have put it in the primary curriculum review he did just before the Tories came in.

listsandbudgets · 05/07/2017 18:58

Think dd did it in year 4 or 5. I never did it myself until a friend taught me when I was at university (doing history not maths )

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