The Excel BIN2OCT Function

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Related Function:

Oct2Bin Function

Binary

The Binary (Base 2) Numeral System uses the digits 0 & 1.

The following table shows the first 8 binary values, along with the equivalent decimal values:

Binary	1	10	11	100	101	110	111	1000
Decimal	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8

For further information on the binary numeral system, see the Wikipedia Binary Page

Octal

The Octal (Base 8) Numeral System uses the digits 0-7.

The following table shows the first 16 octal values, along with the equivalent decimal values:

Octal	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	10
Decimal	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8

Octal	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	20
Decimal	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16

For further information on the octal numeral system, see the Wikipedia Octal Page

Basic Description

Hexadecimal (base 16), decimal (base 10), octal (base 8), and binary (base 2) are the most commonly used numeral systems in engineering and computing. Therefore, Excel has provided functions to convert numeric values to and from each of these systems.

The Excel Bin2Oct function converts a Binary (Base 2) number into an Octal (Base 8) number.

The format of the function is :

BIN2OCT( Number, [Places] )

Where :

-	The Number argument is the binary number that is to be converted to octal

and

-	The [Places] argument is an optional argument, which specifies the number of characters that you want the returned octal number to have. If this is greater than the minimum, the octal number will be padded out using leading zeros.

If omitted, the returned octal uses the minimum number of places.

Note that the Number argument must be no more than 10 characters (40 bits) long. The most significant bit of this value denotes the sign of the number and the remaining 39 bits denote the magnitude. Negative numbers are represented using two's complement notation.

Examples

The following spreadsheet shows examples of the Excel Bin2Oct function. The format of the function is shown in the spreadsheet on the left and the result is shown in the spreadsheet on the right.

Formulas

	A
1	=BIN2OCT( "101" )
2	=BIN2OCT( "0000000001" )
3	=BIN2OCT( "10", 10 )
4	=BIN2OCT( "1111111110" )
5	=BIN2OCT( "1110" )

Results

	A
1	5
2	1
3	0000000002
4	7777777776
5	16

Note that, in the above example spreadsheet, the negative binary and octal numbers in cell A4 are represented by two's complement notation.

Further information and examples of the Excel Bin2Oct function can be found on the Microsoft Office website.

Common Errors

If you get an error from your Excel Bin2Oct function this is likely to be one of the following :

#VALUE!

Occurs if the supplied Places argument is not recognised as a number

#NUM!

Occurs if either:

	-	the supplied Number argument is not recognised as a binary number or contains more than 10 characters
or
	-	the resulting octal number requires more places than is specified by the supplied Places argument
or
	-	the supplied Places argument ≤ 0

#NAME?

Occurs when Analysis ToolPak add-in is not enabled in your Excel.
You will need to enable the add-in if you want to use the Excel engineering functions.

To do this in Excel 2003 :

From the Tools drop-down menu, select the option Add-Ins ...
An 'Add-Ins' window will pop up. From this, select the option Analysis ToolPak and click OK

To do this in Excel 2007 :

Click the Microsoft button on the top left of your spreadsheet and select the Excel Options button
From the menu on the left hand side, select Add-Ins
In the 'Manage:' box, select Excel Add-ins and click Go...
An 'Add-Ins' window will pop up. From this, select the option Analysis ToolPak and click OK