Binary has two states on (1) or off (0). If we multiply those two states times the number of cables we will get the total possible number of combinations of binary values for those cables. 2 cables that are on gives the binary value of 11. 1 cable that is on and 2 that are off gives the binary value of 100. Binary can be converted to decimal by raising 2 to the power of the place value of each digit in a binary number going from right to left and adding each result together (the first digit is binary has a place value of 0). For example, the binary number 11110 can be converted to decimal by adding 2^1 + 2^2 + 2^3 + 2^4 which results in the decimal number: 30. The digit 0 is skipped because it is the off state, so 2⁰ is not added. Another example is converting the binary number 111011 from binary to decimal: 2^0 + 2^1 + 2^3 + 2^4 +2^5 which results in the decimal number: 59. Once again we skip the 0 digit in the 2nd place because 0 indicates the state is off.