I need help with this computer question??

[gameboy7]

Ok so Imagine how many questions you could answer if you has a few million boxes to respond with. Mathmatically speaking everytime you add a box, you double the number of possible answers. That is when you have only one box, you have only two possible answers, but when you have two boxes, you can have four answers. Three boxes equal eight answers get huge very quickly. with only 16 boxes you can respond to your friend with over 64,000 possible answers.

that is what it says in the computer programming book i have, my concern is how do you come up with 16 boxes equalin over 64,000 possible answers if your doubleing your boxes up to 16 what should you actually get if you did that not 64,000 is it?

thanks i will appreicite the help its been a week since ive got someone to respond!!

[zipulrich]

Homework is best learned by doing things yourself.

[Miz]

If there are only two possible answers per question...true or false, I suppose...I'm not clear on how there are eight possible answers with three boxes. That looks like six possible answers to me. On the other hand, I'm numerically challenged. ;)

[GretaP]

I haven't tried calculating it up to 16 yet, but perhaps what they mean is that when you add a box you double the previous amount of answers.....three boxes doubles the previous amount of four answers which equals eight answers.

[10nitro]

Ok this is easy--basic binary

First, 16 boxes gives you 65,536 (2^16)

A little more info:
Binary is base-2, Decimal is base-10 (we normally use decimal).
In your example, one box is one digit. A "box" gives 2 options, the number of the base.

Let's try teaching decimal this way, to show you something you are familliar with.

In decimal, one box would give you 10 (the base) answers (0-9, each box is a digit).
If you add another box you get 100 answers (00-99, two digits). This is 10*10 (or 10^2).
Add a third box and you get 1000 answers (000-999), or 10*10*10, which simplifies to 10^3.

Basically, the amount of numbers you can represent (answers you can give) is base^digits

So, in your example, the number of answers you can give is 2^boxes. Get it.

BIN---DEC
--0----0
--1----1
-10----2
-11----3
100----4
101----5
110----6
111----7



See, each place value you get is a box, so with 3 boxes you get 8 answers (0-7)

I hope this was helpful

[cHiNgY1788]

and that is how you can count up to 1 million with your fingers (and thumbs)

[oracle128]

and that is how you can count up to 1 million with your fingers (and thumbs)You have 20 fingers?
that is what it says in the computer programming book i have, my concern is how do you come up with 16 boxes equalin over 64,000 possible answers if your doubleing your boxes up to 16 what should you actually get if you did that not 64,000 is it?I would say it's time to get a new book on programming. I can do binary arithmetic and programming, but that story with boxes just confused the hell outta me.

[cHiNgY1788]

1024...
1million with your toes included...

[jmtjet]

Who cares. :)