Issue 3: Maths and Numeracy - Exploring Digital Devices

Using the context of digital devices, this article from the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) FE online magazine, explores how students might be helped to understand how decimal numbers work by considering binary numbers and manipulating them. Tables are used to explain the link between base 2 and base 10.

Brief descriptions of modern digital devices are used to introduce the terminology of bits, bytes and gigabytes, all of which are explained. Starting points for discussion and exploration are suggested, as are questions surrounding everyday digital devices such as laptop computers and music recorders.

Large numbers, powers and information about the way data is stored on a CD all suggest how everyday contexts could inform and be used to develop a deeper understanding of the mathematics behind them as well as making lessons more relevant and interesting to students.

Links are provided to further reading and sources of information which in turn could lead to other avenues of exploration and learning.