Multiplying & dividing binary

A binary number system consists of only two digits, 1 and 0. Explore how to perform division and multiplication in a binary number system, learn the rules for these operations, and see example division and multiplication problems. Updated: 01/25/2022

Binary Multiplication

Binary division and multiplication are both pretty easy operations. Instead of dealing with a lot of numbers, you just need to make sure to set the 1 or 0 in the right place. For this reason, you need to make sure you are also familiar with binary addition and subtraction.

To perform a binary multiplication problem, we need to understand how addition works with binary numbers and follow the same process of multiplication and addition we would use with decimal numbers.

Let's say we want to multiply 4 by 3, which in binary will be 100 by 011 (or 11, it's the same):

4 x 3

We start with the first digit, in this case 1, and multiply 100 by 1, which gives the exact same number.

1 multiplied by 100

Then we move to the second digit and proceed to do the same. Since it's also 1, the number will remain intact, we just need to shift the number one digit to the left:

Second digit multiplication shifts one digit

Later, since the last digit is a 0, we can skip it and start with the addition:

Skip the 0 and start…