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BiMOS • binaural 73
BiMOS A combination of bipolar and MOSFET
transistors in an integrated circuit. Thus, a typical
BiMOS device can have MOSFET input for
high impedance and bipolar output for low
impedance.
binant electrometer An electrometer in which a
thin platinum vane (“the needle”) is suspended
within two halves of a metal pillbox-shaped container.
The halves or binants are biased with a dc
voltage of 1 to 12 V, and the unknown voltage is
applied to the vane. It is also called DUANT
ELECTROMETER and HOFFMAN ELECTROME-
TER.
binary 1. Pertaining to the base-2 number system.
Thus, binary arithmetic uses two digits: 0 and 1.
2. Pertaining to two-element chemical compounds.
binary arithmetic Mathematical operations performed
using only the digits 0 and 1.
binary cell In a computer memory, an element
that can display either of two stable states.
binary chain A cascade of binary elements, such
as flip-flops, each unit of which affects the stable
state of the succeeding unit in sequence.
binary channel Any channel whose use is limited
to two symbols.
binary code A system of numbers representing
quantities by combinations of 1 and 0; a binarynumber
system.
binary-coded decimal notation In digital computer
operations, a system of notation in which
each digit of a decimal number is represented by
its binary equivalent. Thus, the decimal number
327 in BCD notation becomes 0011 0010 0111.
(By contrast, in pure binary notation, 327 is
101000111.)
binary-coded octal notation A method of numbering
in which each base-8 digit is represented
by a binary number from 000 to 111.
binary-controlled gate circuit A gate circuit controlled
by a binary stage. An example is a gating
transistor that receives its on/off pulses from a
flip-flop.
binary counter A counter circuit consisting of a
cascade of bistable stages. Each stage is a scaleof-two
counter because its output is on for every
second input pulse. At any instant, the total binary
count in a multistage counter thus is shown
by the on and off states of the various stages in
sequence.
binary decoder A device or stage that accepts binary
signals on its input lines, and provides a
usually exclusive output (representing a decimal
digit, for example).
binary digit See BIT.
binary number system The base-two system of
notation. This system uses only two symbols, 0
and 1, and accordingly is easily applied to twoposition
switches, relays, and flip-flops.
binary preset switch In a binary counter or binary
control circuit, a selector switch that allows the
circuit to be preset to deliver an output pulse only
after a predetermined number of input pulses.
binary relay See BISTABLE RELAY.
binary scaler In its simplest form, a single twostage
device, such as a flip-flop, which functions
as a divide-by-two counter, because one output
pulse results from every two input pulses.
Higher-order scaling is obtained by cascading
stages.
binary search A system of search entailing the
successive division of a set of items into two parts
and the rejection of one of the two until all items
of the sought-for kind are isolated.
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binary search
binary signal Any signal that can attain either of
two states. Such a signal is always a digital signal.
binary-to-decimal conversion 1. The automatic
conversion of a number represented by a series of
binary pulses into the corresponding decimal
number, which then is displayed by a readout device.
2. The arithmetic operation of converting a
binary number into a decimal number; this can
be done by noting the powers of 2 represented by
the various binary digits in a number, and then
adding the decimal values of these powers.
binary word A binary numeral that has a particular
meaning, agreed upon by convention. For example,
the letters A through Z can be represented
by binary numbers 00001 through 11010; a word
can be represented by several blocks of five digits.
binaural Literally, two-eared. In sound recording
and reproduction, the transcription of a broad
sound source using two microphones spaced at
approximately the distance between the ears on a
human head, and played back using headphones