Binary-Coded Decimal

Abbreviated as BCD, binary-coded decimal is a format for representing decimal numbers (integers) in which each digit is represented by four bits (a nibble ). For example, the number 375 would be represented as:

0011 0111 0101

One advantage of BCD over binary representations is that there is no limit to the size of a number. To add another digit, you just need to add a new 4-bit sequence. In contrast, numbers represented in binary format are generally limited to the largest number that can be represented by 8, 16, 32 or 64 bits.

Vangie Beal
Vangie Beal
Vangie Beal is a freelance business and technology writer covering Internet technologies and online business since the late '90s.

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