A Magic Trick to Wow Your Guests: Explaining Binary Numbers to Kids

Here is a magic trick to wow guests at your next party.

Once they've selected their secret number:

Write a 0 under the box for no, their number is not in the first box, or a 1 for yes. Repeat the question for each box.

Now, for the moment of magic ---

Your guests' eyes will shine with wonder and you'll smile confidently.

So what's underneath the magician's sleeves? Binary numbers.

We can represent any whole number between 0 and 15 with four 0s or 1s. Each box represents an exponential power of 2 - think 8, 4, 2, 1. When we see a 1, we add that box's value, and when we see a 0, we skip it.

Binary numbers are one of the many things we will learn participating in the American Computer Science League, along with other fun logic and computational skills.

So for our kiddos grades 4 and up, if you are interested, we will see you starting Friday Nov. 22 at 4:30 pm at Ember. An Ember VP will explain in detail what to expect in terms of how the competition works and material covered. Invite friends who may be interested!

We will train Fridays at 4:30 pm plus one additional day. Coding leagues are included at no extra cost with our unlimited membership.