def make_binary(df, cols):
    
    """Converts continuous columns to binary columns.
    
    Parameters
    ----------
    
    df : Pandas DataFrame
    
    cols : List of columns that need to be converted in the DataFrame
    
    Returns
    -------
    
    DataFrame with continuous columns replaced by binary columns"""
    
    # copy the original df
    binary_df = df.copy()
    
    # map 1 if the value is greater than 0, otherwise 0 to each column in the list
    binary_df[cols] = binary_df[cols].applymap(lambda x: 1 if x > 0 else 0)
    
    # rename the columns to include 'binary' instead of 'yrs'
    for col in cols:
        binary_df.rename(columns = {col: col[4:] + '_binary'}, inplace=True)
        
    # return new DataFrame
    return binary_df