Basic networking college class coming up

So.. I'm taking some college classes this semester and I decided to try a basic networking class. It had a prerequisite, but because I've been working as a computer tech all summer(actually more than the summer..) and have been at least basically computer savvy most of my life I figured I could handle it. Besides that, the prerequisite is math class, and I hate math.

Turns out, the prerequisite being a math class had a purpose. Go figure. I figured the basic networking class would not go so in depth that I would need a lot of math skills, but apparently it will. Apparently it will have to do with Cisco. Not a huge surprise, but I thought it might not get into that until a later networking class.

At any rate, what would you advise I do to prepare for the math portion of this class? I read what wiki had to say about binary and at least I can now understand that one guys sig when it says there are 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't. :-D

I was told that the most important thing to know math wise was being able to convert binary to... something. The person who told me couldn't remember what it was important to convert to. Any ideas on what it probably is?

Anyway, any direction regarding math related to networking and Cisco would be MUCH appreciated. I'd hate to have to drop this class and take the prerequisite instead.

 

Binary and Hex, it not really "math" in the sense your fretting. You should be able to convert decimal (base 10) to binary (base 2).. it is easy just google it.

Hex is base 16, using 0-9 & A-F (a=10,b=11,..f=15) 0-15 or 16 digits.

Binary is used in networking for subnetting / supernetting.. Hex you may recognize from the MAC address of your equiptment.

There was a learnbinary.com once now I think they are gone but they used to 'sell' their website as a download. I may have it. It had a flash site that taught binary very well - contact me for more info.