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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Science
Alex Bellos

Can you solve it? Are you brainy at binary?

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stands at the door of 10 Downing Street, London, in June 20023,  as numbers stuck to the door spell out 'London Tech Week' in binary code, ahead of a garden reception for London Tech Week.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stands at the door of 10 Downing Street, London, in June 2023, as numbers stuck to the door spell out 'London Tech Week' in binary code, ahead of a garden reception for London Tech Week. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Last month an example of binary code was cleverly displayed on the door of 10 Downing Street, to promote London Tech Week.

A binary code is a way of encoding information (in this case, letters) in the binary digits 0 and 1, called “bits”. In the standard encoding used on the PM’s door, every letter is represented by eight bits. The first line spells L, the second T and the third W.

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