Lab - Use a Calculator for Binary Conversions

Objectives
● Switch among Windows Calculator modes.
● Use Windows Calculator to convert between decimal and binary.
● Use Windows Calculator to determine the number of hosts in a network with powers of 2.

Background / Scenario
When working with networking devices, a network technician should understand binary and decimal numbers.
In this lab, you will use the Windows Calculator application to convert between these numbering systems. You
will also use the “powers” function to determine the number of hosts that can be addressed based on the
number of bits available.

Required Resources
● PC (Windows 10)

Instructions

Part 1: Using Windows Calculator

Step 1: Access Windows Calculator and determine mode of operation.

a. Open the Windows Calculator application. Click Start, type Calculator. Select Calculator in the results.
Question:

What mode is the Calculator in?

- Calculator mode is in scientific.
b. Click the Open Navigation icon (≡) located in the upper left-hand corner. The Windows calculator
supports different mode of calculations.
Question:

List the five modes for the calculator.

Type 0- Standard, Scientific, Programmer, Date Calculation and Converter.

Step 2: Switch between modes.

a. To switch between calculator modes, click the Open Navigation icon (≡) and select desired mode.
b. Practice switching between calculator modes to see which options they provide.
Question:

Briefly explain the function of each mode.

-Standard
Basic functions of calculator add, multiply, subtract and division.
- Scientific
Sin, Cos, Tan, Exponents, Square root are added.
- Programmer
HEX (Hexadecimal), DEC (Decimal), OCT (Octal), and BIN (Binary).

© 2016 - 2020 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Page 1 of 5 www.netacad.com
Lab - Use a Calculator for Binary Conversions

-Date Calculation
Can find Differences between dates and add or subtract days.
-Converter
Can do conversion of Currency, Length, Weight, and Temperature.
Questions:

Part 2: Binary System

Step 1: Convert between number systems.

a. Select the Programmer mode calculator.
b. The Programmer calculator supports four numbering systems — HEX (Hexadecimal), DEC (Decimal),
OCT (Octal), and BIN (Binary).
Questions:

Which number system is currently active?

- 1 and 0
Which numbers on the number pad are active in Decimal mode?
- 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9
c. Click BIN.
Question:

Which numbers on the number pad are now active?

- 1 and 0
Why do you think the other numbers are grayed out?
- numbers that are not used in Binary Function.
d. Click DEC. Using your mouse, click on the number 1 followed by the number 5 on the number pad. The
decimal number 15 has now been entered.
e. Now click BIN.
Question:

What happened to the number 15 listed in the textbox at the top of the window?
- it changed into numbers 1111.
f. Enter the number 220 and select BIN.
Question:

What is the binary equivalent of 220?

- The binary equivalent of 220 is 1101 1100.
g. Clear the binary value representing 220 in the window. From Binary mode, type in the following binary
number: 11001100. Select the DEC.
Question:

What is the decimal equivalent to the binary number of 11001100?

- Decimal equivalent is 204.

Step 2: Practice the conversion between binary and decimal numbering system.
Questions:

Convert the following decimal numbers to binary.

Decimal Binary

86 0101 0110

© 2016 - 2020 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Page 2 of 5 www.netacad.com
Lab - Use a Calculator for Binary Conversions

175 1010 1111

204 1100 1100
19 0001 0011

Convert the following binary numbers to decimal.

Binary Decimal

1100 0011 195

0010 1010 42
0011 1000 56
1001 0011 147

Part 3: Network Addresses

Step 1: Convert host IP addresses.

a. Computer hosts usually have two addresses, an Internet Protocol (IP) address and an Ethernet Media
Access Control (MAC) address. For the benefit of humans, the IP address is normally represented as a
dotted decimal notation, such as 192.168.10.2. Each of the decimal octets in the address or a mask can
be converted to 8 binary bits. Remember that the computer only understands binary bits.
Question:

If all 4 octets were converted to binary, how many bits would there be?
- 32bits
a. IP addresses are normally shown with four decimal numbers ranging from 0 to 255 and separated by a
period.
Question:

Convert the 4 parts of the IP address 192.168.10.2 to binary.

Decimal Binary

192 1100 0000

168 1010 1000
10 1010
2 0010

Step 2: Convert host IP subnet masks.

Subnet masks, such as 255.255.255.0, are also represented as dotted decimal. A subnet mask will always
consist of four 8-bit octets, each one represented as a decimal number. With the exception of decimal 0 (all 8
binary zeros) and decimal 255 (all 8 binary ones), each octet will have some number of ones on the left and
some number of zeros on the right.
Questions:

Convert the 8 possible decimal subnet octet values to binary.

Decimal Binary

0 0
128 1000 0000

© 2016 - 2020 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Page 3 of 5 www.netacad.com
Lab - Use a Calculator for Binary Conversions

192 1100 0000

224 1110 0000
240 1111 0000
248 1111 1000
252 1111 1100
254 1111 1110
255 1111 1111

Convert the four parts of the subnet mask 255.255.255.0 to binary.

Decimal Binary

255 1111 1111

255 1111 1111
255 1111 1111
0 0

Step 3: Manipulate powers of 2 to determine the number of hosts on a network

a. Binary numbers use two digits, 0 and 1. When you calculate how many hosts can be on a subnetwork,
you use powers of two because binary is being used. As an example, we have a subnet mask that leaves
six bits in the host portion of the IP address. In this case, the number of hosts on that network is 2 to the
6th power minus 2 (because you need a number to represent the network and a number that can be used
to reach all the hosts—the broadcast address). The number 2 is always used because we are working in
binary. The number 6 is the number of bits that are used for the host bits.
b. Change the calculator view to Scientific mode. Input the number 2. Select the xy key on the calculator,
the key which raises a number to a power. Input the number 6. To compete the operation, click on the =
key, press Enter on the keyboard, or press the = key on the keyboard. The number 64 appears in the
output. To subtract two, click on the minus (-) key and then the 2 keys followed by the = key. The number
62 appears in the output. This means 62 hosts could be utilized.
Questions:

Using the previously described process, determine the number of hosts if the following number of bits are
used for host bits.

No. of Bits Used for Hosts No. of Hosts

5 40
14 112
24 192
10 80

Using a similar technique as learned previously, determine what 10 to the 4 th power equals.
Type your answers here.
c. Close the Windows Calculator application.

© 2016 - 2020 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Page 4 of 5 www.netacad.com
Lab - Use a Calculator for Binary Conversions

Reflection
List one other thing for which you might use the Windows Calculator scientific mode. It does not have to be
related to networking.

Use scientific mode to practice.

Type your answers here.

© 2016 - 2020 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public Page 5 of 5 www.netacad.com