Introduction

Introduction to
to
Number
Number
Representation
Representation


 Binary
Binary Numbers
Numbers

 Sign/Magnitude
Sign/Magnitude

 2s
2s Complement
Complement

A Level Computer Science

Binary
Binary
 Binary
Binary
 All computer processing is
carried out digitally.
 This means that the processor
handles instructions as binary
codes – zeros and ones.
 All data on a PC is essentially
0’s and 1’s.
Converting
Converting binary
binary into
into positive
positive denary
denary integers
integers

 Whole positive denary (base ten) numbers are

converted into binary as follows:
 135 from denary into binary

128 + 4 + 2 + 1 = 135
MSB
MSB LSB
LSB

128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1
 The
The repeated
repeated division
division method
method
A method for converting denary to binary:
98 in denary into binary:

98 divide by 2 = 49 remainder 0
49 divide by 2 = 24 remainder 1
24 divide by 2 = 12 remainder 0
12 divide by 2 = 6 remainder 0
6 divide by 2 = 3 remainder 0
DIV
DIV
3 divide by 2 = 1 remainder 1
1 divide by 2 = 0 remainder 1
0 divide by 2 = 0 remainder 0 MOD
MOD
Read the binary code from the remainder from bottom to the top:

01100010 which equals 98

 Binary
Binary Coded
Coded Decimal
Decimal (BCD)
(BCD)
 BCD represents denary integers using blocks of four binary digits.
 Each block of four is converted and the denary values are then
read off:

8 4 2 1 8 4 2 1 8 4 2 1
1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0
8+0+0+1 0+0+2+1 8+0+0+0
 Therefore91001 0011 1000 in BCD
3 = 938 in denary. 8
 Uses
Uses of
of BCD
BCD
 BCD enables fast
conversions from
denary to binary for
applications such as
pocket calculators.
 Each digit on a
calculator corresponds
directly to a four-bit
block in BCD.
 Storing
Storing Negative
Negative Integers
Integers
 1 method is Sign/Magnitude
 75
 -75
MSB
MSB

+/- 64 32 16
128 8 4 2 1

1
0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1
11is
isaaNegative,
Negative,00is
isaa Positive
Positive
 Sign/Magnitude
Sign/Magnitude
 This method has some limitations
 Makes calculations difficult by losing 1 bit

127
127 maximum
maximum number
number

+/- 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1

Sign
Sign
Value
Value or
or Magnitude
Magnitude
 Storing
Storing Negative
Negative Integers
Integers
 Another method is 2s Complement

 -75

128 64 32 16
-128 8 4 2 1

1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1

-128+32+16+4+1=-75
 2s
2s Complement
Complement Conversion
Conversion
 -117
 Stage 1 : work out 117 in binary

128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1
 Stage 2 : Reverse the 0’s and 1’s
-128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
1 0 0 0 1 0 1 10
 Stage 3 : Plus 1
 Representing
Representing characters
characters

 There are three main coding systems

that provide conversions of keyboard
characters into binary:
–EBCDIC
–ASCII
–UNICODE
 EBCDIC
EBCDIC

 EBCDIC stands for Extended Binary

Coded Decimal Interchange Code.
 It is an extension of BCD which includes
non-numeric characters, including all
the keyboard characters and special
characters.
 It is commonly used to encode data
onto magnetic tape.
 ASCII
ASCII

 ASCII stands for the American Standard

Code for Information Interchange.
 It has been adopted as the industry-
standard way of representing keyboard
characters as binary codes.
 Every keyboard character is given a
corresponding binary code.
 ASCII uses an 8-bit code to provide 256
characters.
 UNICODE
UNICODE

 UNICODE is the new standard to emerge that

is replacing ASCII.
 It has been adopted by many of the big
businesses in the computing industry.
 It is designed to cover more of the characters
that are found in languages across the world.
 It has become important due to the increased
use of the Internet, as more data is being
passed around globally.