This document discusses how computers represent letters and symbols using binary numbers through character encoding systems. It explains that computers first convert letters into numbers using an encoding system like Unicode or ASCII, which provide number equivalents for letters according to set rules. Unicode can represent letters of all world languages, while older ASCII only supported English letters but was easier to compute with since it used 8 bits. The document will use ASCII to encode a message into binary numbers for a computer to understand.

1. BINARY NUMBER SYSTEM (Part
2)

2. Transforming letters and characters into
numbers
Binary numbers are used for everything we use
in computers. Let’s look at how computers see the
letters and symbols we use in our writing. Each letter
in computers is first converted into numbers using a
system called character encoding. This is a pattern
or set of rules that tell the computer the number
equivalents of letters.

3. Through the years we have used
different character encodings. Today, we
use the Unicode character encoding. This
encoding can give number equivalents to
letters of all languages in the world,
including those that are not in use anymore
like Egyptian hieroglyphs and Chaldean
cuneiform. It also makes the computer
understand Baybayin, the ancient Filipino

4. Another encoding we used is the ASCII
(American Standard Code for Information
Interchange). It uses 7 binary digits to represent
letters. Extended ASCII uses 8 bits to incorporate
more letters into computers. Computers don’t use
ASCII as often now because it only supports letters
in the English language. Computers nowadays
mostly use Unicode. But since it’s easier to compute
because it uses only 8 bits, we will use ASCII to
encode our message into binary.