Read me for an explanation. The top flipper is a counter, counting up in base[whatever you have base set to]. In base 10, there are 10 numbers/symbols, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. These are digits. In base 8, for instance, there are only 8. 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. As you can imagine, counting will work a little differently in different bases. Change around the [base] slider to get a feel for how it works. The tiny numbers represent that place's value. That is, for base 10, the one's place, the ten's place, the hundred's place, and so on. This can be thought of as 10^0, 10^1, 10^2, 10^3, etc. In bases two, they are the one's place, the two's place, the four's place, the eight's place, and so on. This is like 2^0, 2^1, 2^2, 2^3, and so on. Take the decimal number 17, for instance. 7 is in the one's place, and 1 is in the ten's place. So, we can rewrite this as (1*10)+(7*1)=10+7=17. Let's try 328. 8 is in the one's place, 2 is in the ten's place, and 3 is in the hundred's place. (3*100)+(2*10)+(8*1)=300+20+8=328 Now, let's try this for the binary number 1011. There is a 1 in the one's place, a 1 in the two's place, a 0 in the four's place, and a 1 in the eight's place. (1*8)+(0*4)+(1*2)+(1*1)=8+0+2+1=eleven. Hopefully, that gives you a bit of an understanding. If not, I can explain to you if you leave a comment.
