RICE

ELEC 220
Why Binary
And how we interpret it

ELEC 220, Fundamentals of Computer Engineering, Spring 2017 0

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 Last Time..
• We saw a history of attempts to:
– Improve computing reliability.
• Reliability of the result
• Reliability of the machine
– Improve computing repeatability.
– Improve computing speed.

ELEC 220, Fundamentals of Computer Engineering, Spring 2017 2

 Today’s topics
• Why binary?
• We can put our bits (binary digits) in special
containers.
• The containers we put our bits in represent key
data types we will use in programming:
– Unsigned integers
– 2’s complement signed integers
• Addition, subtraction and overflow
• Future topics
– Other types of numerical values
– And it’s not just about numbers

ELEC 220, Fundamentals of Computer Engineering, Spring 2017 3

 Why a binary system?
• Why do we use a binary system i.e. two values?
– 1 and 0
– true and false
– on and off
– high and low
– left and right
– a and b
– 0 volts and 3 volts
– punched hole and no punched hole
– switch flipped on and switch flipped off
• Answer: many binary systems can be built to be very
stable i.e. we can put the system in one of two states
and it will tend to stay in that state.
– This is a fundamental requirement of doing reliable
computing!
ELEC 220, Fundamentals of Computer Engineering, Spring 2017 4
 The cost of our binary switches
• We build a binary switch out of a single transistor.
• How much does a single transistor cost?

= 20,000,000 transistors
= 20,000,000 binary switches
[1] As Moore’s law turns 50, what does the future hold for the
transistor?, Mark Walton, arstechnica.com

• Using transistors, we can make binary switches that are

– Incredibly reliable and switch very rapidly
– In large quantities Babbage had his gears.
– And very, very inexpensive We have our transistors.

• Later this semester, we’ll look at transistors and how they

work.
ELEC 220, Fundamentals of Computer Engineering, Spring 2017 5
 Abstraction
• What does this collection of symbols mean?
01010010010010010100001101000101

• Does this help?

OLOLOOLOOLOOLOOLOLOOOOLLOLOOOLOL
• Does this make it better or worse:
01,010,010,010,010,010,100,001,101,000,101
• How about this?
01010010010010010100001101000101
• For many of our system discussions, binary
means our symbols will be 1 and 0.
• So, what does this sequence of 1’s and 0’s mean?
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 Our choice for representing
our binary system is 1 and 0
• To improve readability let’s write
01010010010010010100001101000101
as

0101 0010 0100 1001 0100 0011 0100 0101

• Let’s call our sequence x.
– There are 32 bits making up x.
• What we have to do is agree on how to interpret
these 32 bits.
• What are some possible interpretations?

ELEC 220, Fundamentals of Computer Engineering, Spring 2017 7

 Bits, and groups of bits, and different containers
• The containers for bits will give us powerful
capabilities:
– Any system that can store bits can store any data we can
represent as bits.
– Any system that can send and receive bits can send and
receive any data we can represent as bits.

• And we define how we will interpret the bits.

• This is our first application of the key computer
engineering concept of Abstraction.
– We will describe a design at different levels of
representation.
– Lower-level details are hidden to offer a simpler
model at higher levels.

ELEC 220, Fundamentals of Computer Engineering, Spring 2017 8

 Unsigned Binary Integers
• Given an n-bit number
n-1 n-2 n-3 … 3 2 1 0
xn-1 xn-2 xn-3 … x3 x2 x1 x0 where xi = 0 or 1

A polynomial
x = xn-1 2n-1 + xn-2 2n-2 + … + x1 21 + x0 20

• Range: 0 to 2n – 1
• Example
• 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 10112
= 0 + … + 1×23 + 0×22 +1×21 +1×20
= 0 + … + 8 + 0 + 2 + 1 = 1110
• Using 32 bits (n = 32)
• Range: 0 to +4,294,967,295
• With this definition, our sequence
x = 0101 0010 0100 1001 0100 0011 0100 01012
= 1,382,172,99510
ELEC 220, Fundamentals of Computer Engineering, Spring 2017 9
 Aside: Some Important Terminology
• Given an n-bit series of bits

n-1 n-2 n-3 … 3 2 1 0

xn-1 xn-2 xn-3 … x3 x2 x1 x0 where xi = 0 or 1

This (xn-1) is called the This (x0) is called the

most-significant bit least-significant bit

• Why might these terms be used?

ELEC 220, Fundamentals of Computer Engineering, Spring 2017 10

 2s-Complement Signed Integers
• Given an n-bit number
n-1 n-2 n-3 … 3 2 1 0
xn-1 xn-2 xn-3 … x3 x2 x1 x0 where xi = 0 or 1
n -1 n-2
x = - x n-1 2 + x n-2 2 + ! + x1 2 + x 0 2
1 0

• Range: –2n – 1 to +2n – 1 – 1

• Example
• 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 11002
= –1×231 + 1×230 + … + 1×22 +0×21 +0×20
= –2,147,483,648 + 2,147,483,644 = –410
• Using 32 bits
• Range: –2,147,483,648 to +2,147,483,647
• With this definition, our sequence remains
• x = 0101 0010 0100 1001 0100 0011 0100 01012
– = 1,382,172,99510
ELEC 220, Fundamentals of Computer Engineering, Spring 2017 11
 2s-Complement Signed Integers
n-1 n-2 n-3 … 3 2 1 0
xn-1 xn-2 xn-3 … x3 x2 x1 x0 where xi = 0 or 1

n -1 n-2
x = - x n-1 2 + x n-2 2 + ! + x1 2 + x 0 2 1 0

• For n = 32, bit 31 is the sign bit

• xn-1= 1 for negative numbers
• xn-1 = 0 for non-negative numbers
• Non-negative numbers have the same unsigned
and 2s-complement representation
• –(–2n – 1) cannot be represented
• Some specific numbers
– 0: 0000 0000 … 0000
– –1: 1111 1111 … 1111
– Most-positive: 0111 1111 … 1111
– Most-negative: 1000 0000 … 0000
ELEC 220, Fundamentals of Computer Engineering, Spring 2017 12
 Signed Negation of 2’s-Complement Signed Integers
• Rule: Complement the number and add 1
– Complement means, bit by bit, 1" = 0, 0" = 1
• Proof: Complement of x

x + x = 111 … 111( = −1
x + x = −1
x" + 1 = −x

• Example: negate +2
• +2 = 0000 0000 … 00102
• –2 = 1111 1111 … 11012 + 1
= 1111 1111 … 11102
ELEC 220, Fundamentals of Computer Engineering, Spring 2017 13
 Stopped here in class

ELEC 220, Fundamentals of Computer Engineering, Spring 2017 14

 Next Time
• Floating point (or scientific notation)
• Characters
• Abstractions

Thank you!

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