25. Pearson Edexcel GCSE (1CP2) Topic 2A Binary shifts

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EDEXCEL 1CP2 Specification Reference - Topic 2A: 2.1.1 - 2.1.6

An arithmetic logic unit is also capable of “binary shifting”. That is moving the binary digits in the accumulator to the left or right a given number of spaces. In effect this either multiplies or divides the number by a factor of two, but in reality it is used to access and change individual bits in a series. This is useful when the binary stored is not really a number, but represents something else. This often finds uses in low level programming because micro-controllers and microprocessors rely on the values of individual bits for particular operations. This video provides a brief introduction.

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00:00 Binary shifts
00:08 Intro
00:13 Logical binary left shift
01:18 Logical binary right shift
03:09 Logical shifts vs arithmetic shifts
04:56 Recap
05:08 Outro

Last updated: 14.07.25

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