The English system of weights and measures is a binary system: eight ounces in a cup, sixteen in a pint (the American pint, that is—as in “a pint’s a pound the world around”; the imperial pint is twenty ounces, and the troy pint is twelve ounces), thirty-two in a quart, sixty-four in a half gallon, and one hundred and twenty-eight in a gallon. Expressing numbers in binary notation is no more difficult than expressing measures in quarts, pints, and cups. One hundred and forty-six ounces, for example, is one gallon plus one pint plus one quarter cup: 128 + 16 + 2 = 146. Written in binary, 146 is
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