Programming
2's Complement Representation for Signed Integers
Definition
Calculation of 2's Complement
Addition
Subtraction
Multiplication
Division
Sign Extension
Other Signed Representations
Notes
Definition
Property
Two's complement representation allows the use of binary arithmetic operations on signed integer
yielding the correct 2's complement results.
Positive Numbers
Positive 2's complement numbers are represented as the simple binary.
Negative Numbers
Negative 2's complement numbers are represented as the binary number that when added to a
positive number of the same magnitude equals zero.
Integer
2's Complement
Signed
Unsigned
0000 0101
0000 0100
0000 0011
0000 0010
0000 0001
0000 0000
-1
255
1111 1111
-2
254
1111 1110
-3
253
1111 1101
-4
252
1111 1100
-5
251
1111 1011
Note: The most significant (leftmost) bit indicates the sign of the integer; therefore it is sometime
called the sign bit.
If the sign bit is zero,
then the number is greater than or equal to zero, or positive.
If the sign bit is one,
then the number is less than zero, or negative.
Calculation of 2's Complement
To calculate the 2's complement of an integer, invert the binary equivalent of the number by
changing all of the ones to zeroes and all of the zeroes to ones (also called 1's complement), and
then add one.
For example,
0001 0001(binary 17)
1110 1111(two's complement -17)
NOT(0001 0001)
1110 1110 (Invert bits)
1110 1110 + 0000 0001
1110 1111 (Add 1)
2's Complement Addition
Two's complement addition follows the same rules as binary addition.
For example,
5 + (-3) = 2
0000 0101
+5
+ 1111 1101
-3
0000 0010
+2
2's Complement Subtraction
Two's complement subtraction is the binary addition of the minuend to the 2's complement of th
subtrahend (adding a negative number is the same as subtracting a positive one).
For example,
7 - 12 = (-5)
0000 0111
+7
+ 1111 0100
-12
1111 1011
-5
2's Complement Multiplication
Two's complement multiplication follows the same rules as binary multiplication.
For example,
(-4) 4 = (-16)
1111 1100
-4
0000 0100
+4
1111 0000
-16
2's Complement Division
Two's complement division is repeated 2's complement subtraction. The 2's complement of the
divisor is calculated, then added to the dividend. For the next subtraction cycle, the quotient repla
the dividend. This repeats until the quotient is too small for subtraction or is zero, then it becomes
the remainder. The final answer is the total of subtraction cycles plus the remainder.
For example,
7 3 = 2 remainder 1
0000 0111
= +7
0000 0100
= +4
+ 1111 1101
= -3
+ 1111 1101
0000 0100
= +4
0000 0001
= -3
= +1 (remainder)
Sign Extension
To extend a signed integer from 8 bits to 16 bits or from 16 bits to 32 bits, append additional bits o
the left side of the number. Fill each extra bit with the value of the smaller number's most significa
bit (the sign bit).
For example,
Signed Integer
8-bit Representation
16-bit Representation
-1
1111 1111
1111 1111 1111 1111
+1
0000 0001
0000 0000 0000 0001
Other Representations of Signed Integers
Sign-Magnitude Representation
Another method of representing negative numbers is sign-magnitude. Sign-magnitude representa
also uses the most significant bit of the number to indicate the sign. A negative number is the 7-b
binary representation of the positive number with the most significant bit set to one. The drawbac
to using this method for arithmetic computation are that a different set of rules are required and t
zero can have two representations (+0, 0000 0000 and -0, 1000 0000).
Offset Binary Representation
A third method for representing signed numbers is offset binary. Begin calculating a offset binary
code by assigning half of the largest possible number as the zero value. A positive integer is the
absolute value added to the zero number and a negative integer is subtracted. Offset binary is
popular in A/D and D/A conversions, but it is still awkward for arithmetic computation.
For example,
Largest value for 8-bit integer = 28 = 256
Offset binary zero value = 256 2 = 128(decimal) = 1000 0000(binary)
1000 0000(offset binary 0) + 0001 0110(binary 22) = 1001 0110(offset binary +22)
1000 0000(offset binary 0) - 0000 0111(binary 7) = 0111 1001(offset binary -7)
Signed Integer
Sign Magnitude
Offset Binary
+5
0000 0101
1000 0101
+4
0000 0100
1000 0100
+3
0000 0011
1000 0011
+2
0000 0010
1000 0010
+1
0000 0001
1000 0001
0000 0000
1000 0000
1000 0000
-1
1000 0001
0111 1111
-2
1000 0010
0111 1110
-3
1000 0011
0111 1101
-4
1000 0100
0111 1100
-5
1000 0101
0111 1011
Notes
Other Complements
1's Complement = NOT(n) = 1111 1111 - n
9's Complement = 9999 9999 - n
10's Complement = (9999 9999 - n) + 1
Binary Arithmetic
Addition
Subtraction
Multiplication
Division
