Binary is represented by 1's and 0's. 1 is "on" and 0 is "off". It is read right to left...the smallest number is at the right and they get bigger as you go left. The right-most number is 1, then 2, then 4,8,16,32,64...doubling each time. So 1010 means don't count the 1 digit, count the 2, don't count the 4, count the 8, then add up the total of counted digits. 1010 = 10. 1110 = 14. 1111 = 15.
To convert decimal to binary you start with the largest number that subtracts into it. Let's take 37. Using the above 1,2,4,8,16,32,64...you see that the largest number that goes into 37 is 32, with 5 left over. So put a 1 down on your paper. Then will 16 go into 5? No, so put a 0 and you now have 10 on your paper. Will 8 go? No, so another 0 for 100. Will 4 go? Yes, so put down a 1 for 1001. After you take 4 from 5 there's 1 left. Will 2 go into 1? No, so another 0 for 10010. Will 1 go? Yes, so you have 37 decimal = 100101 binary.