What Is Gray Code?

If playing foosball with two balls on the field is going to be a bit too difficult to play the game, try coding with two symbols. Gray code is a way of encoding data using only two symbols. It's not just efficient, and it's also fantastic. It has been used in binary communications to help find the best possible error correction system, and it can be used to encode things like your computer's IP address and make it super easy to find. Its coding scheme was developed by Bell Labs scientists in 1956 (so you know it's legit). When you look at the gray code, you'll see that each number is exactly one more than the last. It looks like a staircase or stairwell. The name comes from this pattern: each number is one step up from its neighbor on either side. Gray code is a numerical system that can represent binary numbers. It is often used in digital circuits where the final output of a course should be binary and where there are multiple choices for each bit. In these cases, gray code can determine which bit should be set, minimizing the error probability. Essentially, gray code works to sophisticate and clarify binary results. Part of this process deals with physical switches for binary code; experts explain that physical switches may need to synchronize more precisely. Other problems include signal noise, where misplaced binary bits or numbers could cause transmission problems. The solution? Gray code! Gray codes are sequences of numbers arranged so that if any two consecutive numbers differ by one, they differ by two in another position in the series. The sequence repeats itself every two steps, so an error will only occur once every four steps instead of once every step when using regular binary notation.