Bit Buddy

thingiverse

The Bit Buddy is a tool for teaching the binary (base-2) number system. Understanding how computers encode data is an important first step towards understanding modern computing. Students can physically manipulate the four bit values by flipping each of the four tabs to 1 or 0. By flipping the tabs it is possible to display all 16 values in a "nibble" (4 bits) of information. If a tab is set to 0, no value is shown, but if a tab is set to 1 the value of the corresponding bit is shown. The total number of dots that appear on the Bit Buddy corresponds to the value of the nibble. This tool associates a tactile and visual quality to bit values and gives a fun physical interface to an abstract concept. Students can simply manipulate the values and observe the results.