For converting binary to octal, you group bits into sets of three starting from the right.

For converting binary to octal, you group bits into sets of three starting from the right.

• A. Two
• B. Four
• C. Three
• D. Six

Answer: (C)

Grouping binary digits in sets of three is the idea behind converting to octal. Since octal digits run from 0 to 7 and 2^3 equals 8, each octal digit represents exactly three binary bits. So you pad on the left with zeros if needed to make the total number of bits a multiple of three, then read the bits in three‑bit chunks from left to right, turning each triplet into its octal value (000 to 0, up to 111 to 7). Starting from the right keeps the least significant bits aligned in complete groups, preserving the numeric value. For example, binary 1011101 becomes 001011101 after padding. Splitting gives 001, 011, 101, which translate to 1, 3, 5. So the octal representation is 135. The key reason for using groups of three is that it neatly matches the base-8 system; grouping by two would correspond to base-4 digits, grouping by four wouldn’t align to single octal digits, and six bits wouldn’t map cleanly to the eight possible octal values.

Grouping binary digits in sets of three is the idea behind converting to octal. Since octal digits run from 0 to 7 and 2^3 equals 8, each octal digit represents exactly three binary bits. So you pad on the left with zeros if needed to make the total number of bits a multiple of three, then read the bits in three‑bit chunks from left to right, turning each triplet into its octal value (000 to 0, up to 111 to 7). Starting from the right keeps the least significant bits aligned in complete groups, preserving the numeric value.

For example, binary 1011101 becomes 001011101 after padding. Splitting gives 001, 011, 101, which translate to 1, 3, 5. So the octal representation is 135. The key reason for using groups of three is that it neatly matches the base-8 system; grouping by two would correspond to base-4 digits, grouping by four wouldn’t align to single octal digits, and six bits wouldn’t map cleanly to the eight possible octal values.