Binary number, Bits and Byte

Sen Zhang
• Number systems
– Decimal
– Binary
– Bits
– bytes
– Hexadecimal
– Octal
– Numbers conversion among different systems
• Ascii code
 Bits & Bytes?
• Have you ever heard of words bits and bytes?
Have you heard of an advertisement that says,
"This computer has a 64-bit Pentium IV
processor with 256 mega-bytes of RAM and
100 giga-bytes of hard disk space."
• Probably the answer is yes, even for a normal
computer user, not to mention you, a C++
programmer.
• As a computer programmer, you should know
what bits and bytes are and how to work with
numbers expressed in binary and hexadecimal
notations.
• In this lecture, we will discuss bits and
bytes, binary and decimal numbers in
detail so that you will gain a fundamental
understanding about their meanings, what
these systems are and how they work.
• To help you understand, let's first review
the well known decimal number system.
 The Decimal Number System

• The decimal system is the base-10 system that

we use every day.
• A number, say 6357, represented in the base-10
system consists of multiple ordered digits. (In
other words, digits are normally combined
together in groups to create larger numbers.)
• A digit is a single place that can hold numerical
values between 0 and 9 (10 different values).
 Let us start from an arbitrary
decimal number
• For example, 6,357 has four digits.

• It is understood that in the number 6,357,

– the 7 is filling the "1s place,"
– while the 5 is filling the 10s place,
– the 3 is filling the 100s place 10^3
– and the 6 is filling the 1,000s place.

• So you could express 6,357 this way if you want

to be explicit:
(6 * 1000) + (3 * 100) + (5 * 10) + (7 * 1)
= 6000 + 300 + 50 + 7
= 6357
 Continue ..

• Another way to express it would be to use

the concept of powers of 10.
• A specific digit is associated with a specific
weight expressed as powers of 10. The
first digit (counting from the right) gives 10
to the 0 power, the second digit gives 10 to
the 1 power, and so on.
• Exponents are a shorthand way to show how
many times a number, called the base, is
multiplied times itself. A number with an
exponent is said to be "raised to the power" of
that exponent.
• Assuming that we are going to represent the
concept of "raised to the power of" with the "^"
symbol.
• "10 squared“ or 10 to the power of 2 is written as
"10^2"
• 10 to the fourth power is denoted 10^4
• Thus, another way to express the previous
number is like this:
(6 * 10^3) + (3 * 10^2) + (5 * 10^1) + (7 * 10^0)
= 6000 + 300 + 50 + 7
= 6357
• What you can see from this expression is
that each digit is a placeholder for the
power of the index of that placeholder of
base 10, starting from the least significant
digit with 10 raised to the power of zero
(i.e. counting from the rightmost digit).
• But why do we human beings use 10
based number system?
• The most commonly accepted explanation
is that our base-10 number system was
adopted by our ancestors most likely
because we have 10 fingers.
• Interestingly enough, maybe that is why
digit in English also means a finger or toe.
• We have reasons to ask a question in our
minds:
– “If we happened to evolve to have eight
fingers instead, would we probably have a
base-8 number system?”
• The answer is probably YES!
 Any other number systems?
• The good news about number systems is
that it is not the only choice to have 10
different values in a digit.
• Actually, we can have base-anything
number systems from a theoretical point of
view.
• There are many good reasons to use
different bases in different situations. For
example, 7 days/week, 12 months/year
 A generalized rule
• The following rules apply to base 10 and
to any other base number system:
– The system of base n requires n different
symbols or values.
– The left most digit is the highest-order digit
and represents the most significant digit, while
the lowest-order digit is the least significant
digit.
– A digit is represented as powers of the
system's base.
• Computers happen to operate using the
base-2 number system, also known as the
binary number system, just like the
base-10 number system is known as the
decimal number system to human beings.
 The fundamental point
• Modern computers use binary number system, in
which there are only zeros and ones. (Only two
symbols)
• A “bit” to binary is similar a “digit” to a decimal
information. (Again, the easiest way to
understand bits is to compare them to something
you know: digits.)
• A bit has a single binary value, either 0 or 1.
 Binary vs. Decimal
• Binary is a base two system which works
just like our decimal system.
• Considering the decimal number system,
it has a set of values which range from 0
to 9.
• The binary number system is base 2 and
therefore requires only two digits, 0 and 1.
 The fundamental point
• Binary representation of numbers and
other information is the representation
which can be understood by computer
chips and can be saved in memory.
• It is important to computers because all
computer data is ultimately represented by
a series of zeros and ones, no matter you
realize it or not.
 You might ask
• Why don’t computers use the base-10
decimal system for numbers, counting and
arithmetic?
• Why not 4 based, 7 based?
• Why 2 based?
• We know that the computer doesn't have a
real brain inside. In fact, it is made up
mostly of semiconductor materials such as
silicon. Yet, a computer acts in many ways
as if it does have a real brain, because it
can store (memorize) data and derive new
information (operations) from the input
data.
 Why binary?

• These questions can be answered by a

series of relevant questions!
– How to store the values in hardware?
– How to automatically perform arithmetic
operations on numbers?
–…
• The fundamental question is can we find
out a physical material to stably maintain n
different status?
 How to store?
• Advancement in material science guarantees
that binary status can be represented with no
ambiguity.
• Silicon and many other semiconductor materials
can present one of two status at any given time,
and can retain a status for a long time.
• Positive or negative, +5 volt or -5 volt.
• Think about 2 status in electronic world, if not
One then Zero, very simple to implement in
electronic world.
• One the other hand, it is difficult, if not
impossible, to find out a material to be
able to maintain 10 different status
stably.
• Generally speaking, the more status to
maintain, the more difficult to find out
such a material.
 How to calculate
• Another factor is how to implement proper
digital circuits to perform arithmetic and
logical operations based on a specific
number system.
• It turns out that the binary system is the
preferred way to implement CPUs to do
various operations (arithmetic and logical
operations). Not any other systems!
• You could wire up and build computers that
operate in base-10 (assume physically we
can find out such kind of material.), but they
would be fiendishly expensive right now.
On the other hand, base-2 computers are
relatively cheap.
• Also because there must always be at least
two symbols for an information processing
system to be able to distinguish
significances of different values and to
manipulate on them, binary is the smallest
numbering system that supports definite
arithmetic and logic operations.
 The simplest answer is
• Basically speaking, binary system simplifies
information representation and information
processing in electronic world.
• Binary number system is the easiest one to
implement from the hardware point of view.
• The binary number system suits a computer
extremely well, because it allows simple CPU
and memory designs.
• So computers use binary numbers.
• Their CPU and memory are made up of
millions of tiny “switches” that can be
either ON or OFF. Two symbols, 0 and 1,
can be used to stand for the two states of
ON and OFF.
• Since the computer is really made up of
tiny switches that can be either OFF or
ON, you can look at a binary number as a
series of light switches. A 1 represents a
switch that is ON, and a 0 means a switch
that is OFF.
• The computer's CPU needs only recognize two
states, in the same way as a switch must always
be open or closed, or an electrical flow on or off,
a binary digit must always be one or zero.
– on or off,
– Yes or no,
– 1 or 0.

• But from this on-off, yes-no 1-0 state, all things

may can be represented completely and
calculated correctly.
What is a feasible number system?
• Should be able to represent any information.
• Should be able to support arithmetic and logic
operations.
 Bits
• The binary number system uses binary
digits (bits) in place of decimal digits.
• A binary number is composed of only 0s
and 1s, like this: 1011.

• How do you figure out what the value of

the binary number 1011 is in decimal
world?
 How does it work?
• As we have shown that our decimal system is
based on place or location. That is, the place of
each digit decides the value of that digit.
• The binary system works in exactly the
same way, except that its place value is
based on the number two.
• Therefore we have the one's place, the
two's place, the four's place, the eight's
place, the sixteen's place, and so on. Each
place in the number represents two times
(2X's) the place to its right.
• An example
(1 * 2^3) + (0 * 2^2) + (1 * 2^1) + (1 * 2^0)
=8+0+2+1
= 11
 How you count or add in decimal?
• Considering the decimal number system, it has
a set of values which range from 0 to 9.
• If you add 1 to 9, carry will happen.
• X + Y is greater than 10 and carry 1 onto the
next column on the left.
• If the sum is less than 10, put it down at the
bottom and set the carry to zero. If it is not less
than the base, subtract 10, put down the result,
and set the carry to one.
• With only two numerals, 1 (one) and 0 (zero), counting in
binary is pretty simple. Just keep in mind the following:
• 0+0=0
• 0+1=1
• 1+0=1
• 1 + 1 = 10
• When you look at this sequence,
– 0 and 1 are the same for decimal and binary number systems.
– As for the decimal number 2, you see for the first time carrying
takes place in the binary system. If a bit is 1, and you add 1 to it,
the bit becomes 0 and the next bit becomes 1.
 Bits
• 0=0
• 1=1
• 2 = 10
• 3 = 11
• 4 = 100
• 5 = 101
• 6 = 110
• 7 = 111
• 8 = 1000
• 9 = 1001
• 10 = 1010
• 11 = 1011
• 12 = 1100
 Bits

• Starting at zero and going through 12,

counting in decimal and binary have been
listed on the previous slide.
• Please also notice that, in the transition
from decimal 11 to decimal 12, the
carrying effect rolls over through 2 bits,
turning 1011 into 1100.
 decimal to binary
• Keep dividing by 2

• Ex 2 : 23710

237 / 2 = 118 Remainder 1------------------------------------------------------|

118 / 2 = 59 Remainder 0---------------------------------------------------| |
59 / 2 = 29 Remainder 1------------------------------------------------| | |
29 / 2 = 14 Remainder 1------------------------------------------------| | |
14 / 2 = 7 Remainder 0---------------------------------------------| | | |
7 / 2 =3 Remainder 1------------------------------------------| | | | |
3/ 2=1 Remainder 1-----------------------------------| | | | | | |
1/ 2=0 Remainder 1--------------------------------| | | | | | | |

v v v v v v v v
1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1
 Binary arithmetic operation
• Look at adder in binary and decimal
3
+3
=6

11
+ 11
=110 (carry) which is 6 in decimal.
How to add two numbers which are
not necessarily base 10
• Start with the rightmost column of digits (be sure the numbers are
properly aligned with units digits under each other).
• Begin with carry zero.
• Add the digits in the current column plus the carry.
• If the sum is less than the base, put it down at the bottom and set
the carry to zero. If it is not less than the base, subtract the base, put
down the result, and set the carry to one.
• If you are not out of columns, move to the next one to the left, and
go back to step c above.
• If the carry is not zero, write it down as the leftmost digit of the sum.
• Stop.
 More binary operations
• Likewise, other arithmetic operations such as
subtraction, multiplication and division, as well
as other logical operations can all be
accomplished electronically in CPUs, but more
complicated than binary adder.
• You just need to know that binary numbers can
represent everything, support a complete set of
arithmetic and logic operations. (Not the
concentration of this class, take introduction to
computer science or architecture course if want
to explore more such as binary complementary
code etc.!)
• As you can see, numbers can become
rather long and appear to be cumbersome
in the binary system. For example, to
show the number 10, we need four light
switches, or four places.
• However, it is not a problem to computers
at all! Because the real switches inside a
computer are tiny and they are able to turn
on and off very rapidly.
 The Hexadecimal System
• Although not a problem internally, long binary
number seems a problem to display in some
situations. A common practice to solve this
problem is to use hexadecimal to represent
Binary numbers more compactly externally.
• The hexadecimal system is base 16. Therefore,
it requires 16 different symbols. The values 0
through 9 are used, along with the letters A
through F, which represent the decimal values
10 through 15.
0..9, A, B, C, D, E, F
0..9, 10, 11, 12,13, 14, 15
 Hexadecimal <->binary
binary Hexadecimal
0000 0
0001 1
0010 2
0011 3
0100 4
0101 5
0110 6
0111 7
1000 8
1001 9
1010 A
1011 B
1100 C
1101 D
1110 E
1111 F
Hex decimal binary

10 16 10000

F0 240 11110000

FF 255 11111111
 Hexadecimal <->binary
• Group binary number 4 by 4 starting from
the least significant position.

11,1101,1001 3D9

1 1 1 0 ,1 1 0 1 ED
 The Octal System
• The Octal system is base 8. Therefore it
requires 8 digits. The values 0 through 7
are used.

• Octal to hexadecimal conversion, or visa

versa, is most easily performed by first
converting to binary.
• A binary number is converted to octal by
grouping the bits in groups of three.

1 1 ,1 0 1 , 1 0 1 355
• The binary, hexadecimal (hex) and octal
system share one common feature – they
are all based on powers of 2.
• Each digit in the hex system is equivalent
to a four-digit binary number and each
digit in the octal system is equivalent to a
3-digit binary number.
1 bit

1 byte

4 bytes = 1 word
System dependent.
 A bit
• A ‘bit’ (from Binary + digIT) is the smallest
unit of memory, also the unit of
measurement of data information.
 Bytes
• Since a single bit holds so little
information, bits are rarely seen alone in
computers. They are almost always
bundled together into 8-bit collections, and
these collections are called bytes.
• Bytes, larger units, then are treated as
integral units of storage.
 Words
• On most machines, “bytes” are assembled
into larger structures called “words”, where
a word is usually defined to be the size
required to hold an integer value.
• Some machines use two-byte words (16
bits), while some others use 4-byte
words(32 bits) and some machines use
less conventional sizes.
 Why are there 8 bits in a byte?
• A similar question is, "Why are there 12 eggs in a
dozen?"
• Why your table has no larger or smaller working area?
• It targets at the most common situation.
• The 8-bit byte is something that people settled on
through trial and error over the past 50 years.
• To some extend, 8-bit is enough to represent all English
characters and Arabic numbers. A byte used to be the
basic unit to hold an individual character in a text
document.
 One question?
• Can you use your one eye to show yes or
no?
• Can you use your two eyes to represent
four directions, north, east, south and west
to your partner.

• Hint: you can open and close your eyes to

code different information.
• With 8 bits in a byte, you can represent 256
values ranging from 0 to 255, as shown here:
0 = 00000000
1 = 00000001
2 = 00000010
...
254 = 11111110
255 = 11111111
• This is related to ASCII code!
 ASCII
• It is an acronym for the American Standard
Code for Information Interchange.
• It is a standard seven-bit code that was first
proposed by the American National Standards
Institute or ANSI in 1963, and finalized in 1968
as ANSI Standard X3.4.
• The purpose of ASCII was to provide a standard
to code various symbols ( visible and invisible
symbols)
 ASCII
• In the ASCII character set, each binary
value between 0 and 127 represents a
specific character.
• Most computers extend the ASCII
character set to use the full range of 256
characters available in a byte. The upper
128 characters handle special things like
accented characters from common foreign
languages.
• In general, ASCII works by assigning
standard numeric values to letters,
numbers, punctuation marks and other
characters such as control codes.
• An uppercase "A," for example, is
represented by the decimal number 65."
 Bytes: ASCII

• By looking at the ASCII table, you can clearly

see a one-to-one correspondence between each
character and the ASCII code used.
• For example, 32 is the ASCII code for a space.
• We could expand these decimal numbers out to
binary numbers (so 32 = 00100000), if we
wanted to be technically correct -- that is how
the computer really deals with things.
 Bytes: ASCII

• Computers store text documents, both on disk and in

memory, using these ASCII codes.
• For example, if you use Notepad in Windows XP/2000 to
create a text file containing the words, "Four score and
seven years ago," Notepad would use 1 byte of memory
per character (including 1 byte for each space character
between the words -- ASCII character 32).

• When Notepad stores the sentence in a file on disk, the

file will also contain 1 byte per character and per space.
• Binary number is usually displayed as Hexadecimal to
save display space.
• Take a look at a file size now.
• Take a look at the space of your p drive
 Bytes: ASCII

• If you were to look at the file as a computer

looks at it, you would find that each byte
contains not a letter but a number -- the
number is the ASCII code corresponding to
the character (see below). So on disk, the
numbers for the file look like this:
• Fourandseven
• 70 111 117 114 32 97 110 100 32 115 101
118 101 110
• Externally, it appears that human beings will use
natural languages symbols to communicate with
computer.
• But internally, computer will convert everything
into binary data.
• Then process all information in binary world.
• Finally, computer will convert binary information
back to symbols understandable to human
beings .
• When you type the letter A, the hardware
logic built into the keyboard automatically
translates that character into the ASCII
code 65, which is then sent to the
computer. Similarly, when the computer
sends the ASCII code 65 to output
devices, the output hardware instead draw
letter “A” on your screen or your computer.
 revisit “char” data type
• In C++, single characters are represented
using the data type char, which is one of
the most important scalar data types.
char achar;
achar=‘A’;
achar=65;
 More on book
• Page 6 – basic idea
• Page 31- collating sequence
 Character and integer
• A character and an integer (actually a
small integer spanning only 8 bits) are
actually indistinguishable on their own. If
you want to use it as a char, it will be a
char, if you want to use it as an integer, it
will be an integer, as long as you know
how to use proper C++ statements to
express your intentions.
• 1 bit
• 1 byte = 8 bits
• 1 kb = 210 bytes = 1024 bytes !=1000
• 1 Mb = 1 k k bytes = 210 * 210 bytes
• 1 G b = 210 * 210 * 210 bytes
• 1 Terab = 210 * 210 * 210 * 210 bytes
 Even larger capacity
• 1 petabyte = 210 * 210 * 210 * 210 * 210 bytes
(2 to the 50th power )
• 1 exabyte= 260
• 1 zettabyte = 270
• 1 yottabyte = 280
 Some interesting facts about what
these various-sized bytes can store:
• 1 bit: a binary decision
• 1 byte: a character
• 5 Megabytes: The complete works of Shakespeare
• 2 Gigabytes: 20 meters of shelved books
• 10 Terabytes: The printed collection of the US Library of
Congress
• 200 Petabytes: All printed material in the whole word.
• 5 Exabytes: All words ever spoken by human beings
 CPU processes binary number
• The first microprocessor to make it into a
home computer was the Intel 8080, a
complete 8-bit computer on one chip,
introduced in 1974.
• PC market moved from the 8088 to the 80286,
the 80386, 80486, the Pentium, the Pentium II to
the Pentium III to the Pentium 4.
• All of these microprocessors are made by Intel
and all of them are improvements on the basic
design of the 8088.
• The Pentium 4 can execute any piece of code
that ran on the original 8088, but it does it about
5,000 times faster!
END