Dictionary of Computer and Internet Terms: binary-coded decimal (BCD)
binary-coded decimal (BCD)
a way of representing numbers by means of codes for the decimal digits. For example, consider the number 65. In binary, 65 is 01000001, and that is how most computers represent it. But some computer programs might represent it as the code for 6 followed by the code for 5 (i.e., 0110 0101).
BCD arithmetic is considerably slower and takes more memory than binary arithmetic. It is used primarily in financial work and other situations where rounding errors are intolerable. Pocket calculators use BCD.
