How TRANSISTORS do MATH

Take a look inside your computer to see how transistors work together in a microprocessor to add numbers using logic gates.
This is a great book by Charles Petzold that really breaks down a computer conceptually so that non-technical readers can understand how it works.

EDIT: At 00:12, the chip that is circled is not actually the CPU on this motherboard. This is an older motherboard where the CPU was first inserted into a small board and that board was then inserted into a slot on the motherboard. The chip that is circled is called the "northbridge" and helps the CPU communicate with memory. The northbridge also uses transistors and logic gates just like the CPU.

(As of 2024-01-15, all videos on this channel are under the CC0 license (very similar to Public Domain). Feel free to download and repost without compensation, attribution, or notice.)

[juhabach]

For people who are surprised, how people figured this out :
This following fact is for any science or maths branch :
1. All the complex science and maths of anything has been built by several geniuses, over centuries.
2. Previous work is modified and new concepts and maths is added to the existing ones, also testing and error correction is done rigorously.
3 In today's world, we are just witnessing the finished product...so obviously it seems like marvel....but it took hell lot of time and hell lot of genius calibre minds to finally arrive at the current stage.

[randyscorner]

I have designed microprocessors for 30 years and was the designer of the first integrated Floating Point Unit (doing real number math). I had to see your explanation and enjoyed it a lot. Great basic introduction; with a mountain of optimizations available for faster and wider math. These systems are the most complex on the planet and I still find it amazing that we can get them right. Nicely done!

[darylemhenry]

I can't believe people were smart enough to figure this out. I'm having it explained slowly and with pictures and I'm still struggling with it.

[OmnipotentO]

I strongly recommend that CODE book. It's fucking amazing and I'm not even a computer science guy. I was just curious about how we get from electricals circuits to shit on a screen.

[smacman]

This is both extremely simple and extremely complex at the same time. Thank God there are smart people in this world

[Transled]

I've been using these gates, adders etc. in microprocessor programming for years. I knew what they are doing but it's only now that I fully understand what's going on in those chips. Thanks for this great video.

[dabooda]

I have been coding for 29 years and just now decided to look into the actual electrical engineering aspect of the cpu. Thank you for these videos. They are very well done and explain in great detail. Now I am off to replicate logic gates in code, should be fun.

[forbeswinthrop]

I have been looking for a description of how math is done with transistors. This was exactly what I wanted to understand. Thank you so much.

[andreranulfo-dev]

In 2018, this exact video was my very very very first lesson about binary. It was a great head start in my career. Two years later, I finally started my degree in Computer Engineering and for me, it was a peace a cake (because of this video), in the other hand, my classmates are struggling to understand a very boring and confusing explanation from our Professor. Thank you very much.

[jorgehn]

This is one of the BEST TUTORIAL YouTube has. They should pay this dude for this vide.

[jacobcline]

This covered 2 weeks of my Computer Architecture class in 14min 26sec, and I understand it better than I ever did in those two weeks. Thank you.

[JoeyLovesTrains]

“...Now this kinda happens millions of times a second, inside of your micro-processor, that fits on your motherboard, inside of your computer.”

that quote blew my mind...

[noyes]

As an Electrical engineer, your in depth explanation of the transistor layout is exceptional! Well done!

[renatobritto]

Damn this is really good. I could not find a single video that explains what a logic gate looks like physically and how do they interact to do simple actions so fast and clear. Good job man.

[seancunnion]

You make great videos- please keep it up! As an ex-EE major I watch them to keep sharp, and I find I'm understanding the concepts more clearly than I did in school. I like how you combine practical knowledge and problem-solving.

[ibrahimabtula]

this is the best video I ever seen for how CPU works

[biguzivert]

Bruh this video literally taught me how to make a Minecraft calculator

[TheJaredtheJaredlong]

Wanted to know how computers add 1+1; was not disappointed.

[randzopyr]

You explained this so well. So many people want to skip over parts of this when explaining how a cpu works.

[ighsight]

This man gave an Intro to Computer Science lesson under the guise of teaching you about "transistors". Bravo.