The Big Picture of Computer Science (Part 2)

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Number Systems
Major components of a computer

The Big Picture 2

▪ A computing system is a dynamic entity composed of
hardware, software, and the data that they manage.

▪ Computer hardware is the collection of physical elements that make

up the machine and its related pieces: boxes, circuit boards, chips,
wires, disk drives, keyboards, monitors, printers, and so on.
▪ Computer software is the collection of programs that provide the
instructions that a computer executes.
▪ And at the very heart of a computer system is the information that it
manages. Without data, the hardware and software are essentially
useless.

The Big Picture 3

▪ Layers of a Computing Systems

The Big Picture 4

▪ At the end of the first generation, users were split into two groups:
• systems programmers → develop tools to make programming easier
• applications programmers → use those tools

▪ Later, applications programmers built large domain-specific programs

such as statistical packages, word processors, spreadsheets,
intelligent browsers, virtual environments, and medical diagnosis
applications on top of the traditional language tools.

▪ These application programs were, in turn, used by practitioners with

no computer background.

The Big Picture 5

▪ Computing as a Tool → using computing system to do a particular task
▪ Computing as a Discipline → Approaching computing system as a field
of study

The Big Picture 6

▪ Peter Denning states that each practitioner must be skilled in
four areas:
1. Algorithmic thinking, in which one is able to express problems
in terms of step-by-step procedures to solve them
2. Representation, in which one is able to store data in a way that
it can be processed efficiently
3. Programming, in which one is able to combine algorithmic
thinking and representation into computer software
4. Design, in which the software serves a useful purpose

The Big Picture 7

▪ Computer Science: The study of computers
and computing as well as their theoretical
and practical applications

▪ Draws its foundations from mathematics,

engineering, and logic

▪ The discipline of computer science includes

➢ the study of algorithms and data structures
➢ computer and network design
➢ modeling data and information processes
➢ artificial intelligence

The Big Picture 8

▪ Some major fields in computer science
➢ Algorithms and complexity
➢ Computer architecture and organization
➢ Operating systems
➢ Database systems
➢ Software engineering
➢ Networking and communication
➢ Artificial Intelligence
➢ Parallel and distributed computing
➢ Human-computer interaction
.
.
.

The Big Picture 9

▪ Computer Science Illuminated – Nell Dale, John Lewis
• Chapter 1
▪ Computer Fundamentals – Pradeep K. Sinha, Priti Sinha
• Chapter 1

▪ https://www.britannica.com/science/computer-science
▪ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_science
▪ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_computer_science

The Big Picture 10

Number Systems
▪ In this chapter you will learn about:
➢ Non-positional number system
➢ Positional number system
➢ Decimal number system
➢ Binary number system
➢ Octal number system
➢ Hexadecimal number system
➢ Converting a number’s base
➢ Another base to decimal base
➢ Decimal base to another base
➢ Some base to another base
➢ Fractional numbers in binary number system*

Number Systems 12
▪ Number system: Method for representing numbers

▪ Two types of number systems:

• Non-positional number system
• Positional number system

Number Systems 13
▪ Characteristics
• Use symbols such as I for 1, II for 2, III for 3, IIII for 4, IIIII for 5, etc
• Each symbol represents the same value regardless of its position in the
number
• The symbols are simply added to find out the value of a particular
number

▪ Difficulty
• It is difficult to perform arithmetic with such a number system

Number Systems 14
▪ Characteristics
• Use only a few symbols called digits
• These symbols represent different values depending on the position they
occupy in the number

Number Systems 15
▪ The value of each digit is determined by:
1. The digit itself
2. The position of the digit in the number
3. The base of the number system
(base → total number of digits in the number system)

▪ The maximum value of a single digit is always equal to one less than the
value of the base

Number Systems 16
▪ Characteristics
▪ A positional number system
▪ Has 10 symbols or digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9).
• Hence, its base = 10
▪ The maximum value of a single digit is 9 (one less than the value of the
base)
▪ Each position of a digit represents a specific power of the base
(10)
▪ We use this number system in our day-to-day life

Number Systems 17
▪ Example

▪ 258610 = (2 x 103) + (5 x 102) + (8 x 101) + (6 x 100)

= 2000 + 500 + 80 + 6

Number Systems 18
▪ Characteristics
▪ A positional number system
▪ Has only 2 symbols or digits (0 and 1).
▪ Therefore, its base = 2
▪ The maximum value of a single digit is 1 (one less than the value of the
base)
▪ Each position of a digit represents a specific power of the base (2)
▪ This number system is used in computers

Number Systems 19
▪ Bit stands for binary digit
▪ A bit in computer terminology means either a 0 or a 1
▪ A binary number consisting of n bits is called an n-bit number

Number Systems 20
Number Systems 21
▪ Computer use millions of electronic circuits and switches which can either
be On or Off.

▪ On is represented by 1 and Off is represented by 0

Number Systems 22
Number Systems 23
8 + 2 + 1 = 11
Number Systems 24
8 + 2 + 1 = 11
Number Systems 25
4+2=6
Number Systems 26
 Which bulbs should be
turned on to represent 15?
Number Systems 27
8 + 4 + 2 + 1 = 15
Number Systems 28
 How about 16?
We need more bulbs (more bits)!
Number Systems 29
16 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 16 :D
Number Systems 30
 What number do
the bulbs represent?
Number Systems 31
16 + 2 = 18
Number Systems 32
A B C D E

Which bulbs should be

turned on to represent 21?
Number Systems 33
A B C D E

16 + 4 + 1 = 21
Number Systems 34
▪ Binary to decimal
▪ Decimal to binary

The Big Picture 35

 To play more with this:
https://cdn.cs50.net/2016/x/psets/0/pset0/bulbs.html

Number Systems 36
Do you get the joke? ☺
“There are 10 types of people in the world:
those who understand binary and those who don’t.”

Number Systems 37
▪ Example
101012 = (1 x 24) + (0 x 23) + (1 x 22) + (0 x 21) x (1 x 20)
= 16 + 0 + 4 + 0 + 1
= 2110

Number Systems 38
▪ In order to be specific about which number system we are referring to, it is a
common practice to indicate the base as a subscript. Thus, we write:
101012 = 2110

Number Systems 39
▪ Characteristics
▪ A positional number system
▪ Has total 8 symbols or digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).
▪ Hence, its base = 8
▪ The maximum value of a single digit is 7 (one less than the value of
the base
▪ Each position of a digit represents a specific power of the base (8)

Number Systems 40
 Since there are only 8 digits, 3 bits (23 = 8) are sufficient to represent any
octal number in binary
▪ Example
20578 = (2 x 83) + (0 x 82) + (5 x 81) + (7 x 80)

= 1024 + 0 + 40 + 7

= 107110

Number Systems 41
▪ Characteristics
▪ A positional number system
▪ Has total 16 symbols or digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E,
F).
▪ Hence its base = 16
▪ The symbols A, B, C, D, E and F represent the decimal values 10,
11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 respectively
▪ The maximum value of a single digit is 15 (one less than the value of
the base)
▪ Each position of a digit represents a specific power of the base (16)
▪ Since there are only 16 digits, 4 bits (24 = 16) are sufficient to
represent any hexadecimal number in binary

Number Systems 42
▪ Example
1AF16 = (1 x 162) + (A x 161) + (F x 160)
= 1 x 256 + 10 x 16 + 15 x 1
= 256 + 160 + 15
= 43110

Number Systems 43
▪ Method

▪ Step 1: Determine the column (positional) value of each digit

▪ Step 2: Multiply the obtained column values by the digits in the

corresponding columns

▪ Step 3: Calculate the sum of these products

Number Systems 44
(Continued from previous slide..)

Example
47068 = ?10
Common
values
multiplied
47068 = 4 x 83 + 7 x 82 + 0 x 81 + 6 x 80 by the
corresponding
= 4 x 512 + 7 x 64 + 0 + 6 x 1 digits
= 2048 + 448 + 0 + 6 Sum of these
products
= 2502 10

Number Systems 45
Division-Remainder Method
Step 1: Divide the decimal number to be converted by the value of the
new base
Step 2: Record the remainder from Step 1 as the rightmost digit (least
significant digit) of the new base number

Step 3: Divide the quotient of the previous divide by the new base
Step 4: Record the remainder from Step 3 as the next digit (to the left) of the
new base number
Repeat Steps 3 and 4, recording remainders from right to left, until the
quotient becomes zero in Step 3

Note that the last remainder thus obtained will be the most significant digit
(MSD) of the new base number
Number Systems 46
(Continued from previous slide..)

Example
95210 = ?8

Solution:
8 952 Remainders
119 0
14 7
1 6
0 1

Hence, 95210 = 16708

Number Systems 47
Method

Step 1: Convert the original number to a decimal number (base

10)

Step 2: Convert the decimal number so obtained to the new base

number

Number Systems 48
Example
5456 = ?4

Solution:
Step 1: Convert from base 6 to base 10

5456 = 5 x 62 + 4 x 61 + 5 x 60
= 5 x 36 + 4 x 6 + 5 x 1
= 180 + 24 + 5
= 20910

Number Systems 49
(Continued from previous slide..)

Step 2: Convert 20910 to base 4

4 209 Remainders
52 1
13 0
3 1
0 3

Hence, 20910 = 31014

So, 5456 = 20910 = 31014

Thus, 5456 = 31014

Number Systems 50
Method
Step 1: Divide the digits into groups of three starting from the right

Step 2: Convert each group of three binary digits to one octal digit using
the method of binary to decimal conversion

Number Systems 51
Example
11010102 = ?8

Step 1: Divide the binary digits into groups of 3 starting

from right

001 101 010

Step 2: Convert each group into one octal digit

0012 = 0 x 22 + 0 x 21 + 1 x 20 = 1
1012 = 1 x 22 + 0 x 21 + 1 x 20 = 5
0102 = 0 x 22 + 1 x 21 + 0 x 20 = 2

Hence, 11010102 = 1528

Number Systems 52
Method
Step 1: Convert each octal digit to a 3 digit binary
number (the octal digits may be treated as
decimal for this conversion)

Step 2: Combine all the resulting binary groups

(of 3 digits each) into a single binary
number

Number Systems 53
Example
5628 = ?2
Step 1: Convert each octal digit to 3 binary digits
58 = 1012, 68 = 1102, 28 = 0102

Step 2: Combine the binary groups

5628 = 101 110 010
5 6 2

Hence, 5628 = 1011100102

Number Systems 54
Method
Step 1: Divide the binary digits into groups of four starting from the
right

Step 2: Combine each group of four binary digits to one hexadecimal digit

Number Systems 55
(Continued from previous slide..)

Example

1111012 = ?16

Step 1: Divide the binary digits into groups of four

starting from the right

0011 1101

Step 2: Convert each group into a hexadecimal digit

00112 = 0 x 23 + 0 x 22 + 1 x 21 + 1 x 20 = 310 = 316
11012 = 1 x 23 + 1 x 22 + 0 x 21 + 1 x 20 = 310 = D16

Hence, 1111012 = 3D16

Number Systems 56
Method
Step 1: Convert the decimal equivalent of each hexadecimal digit to a 4
digit binary number

Step 2: Combine all the resulting binary groups (of 4 digits each) in a single
binary number

Number Systems 57
(Continued from previous slide..)

Example

2AB16 = ?2

Step 1: Convert each hexadecimal digit to a 4 digit

binary number

216 = 210 = 00102

A16 = 1010 = 10102
B16 = 1110 = 10112

Number Systems 58
Step 2: Combine the binary groups
2AB16 = 0010 1010 1011
2 A B

Hence, 2AB16 = 0010101010112

Number Systems 59
Fractional numbers are formed same way as decimal number system
In general, a number in a number system with base b would be written as:
an an-1… a0 . a-1 a-2 … a-m

And would be interpreted to mean:

an x bn + an-1 x bn-1 + … + a0 x b0 + a-1 x b-1 + a-2 x b-2 +
… + a-m x b-m

The symbols an, an-1, …, a-m in above representation

should be one of the b symbols allowed in the number system

Number Systems 60
 Binary Point

Position 4 3 2 1 0 . -1 -2 -3 -4

Position Value 24 23 22 21 20 2-1 2-2 2-3 2-4

Quantity 16 8 4 2 1 1/ 1/ 1/ 1/
2 4 8 16
Represented

Number Systems 61
 Octal Point

Position 3 2 1 0 . -1 -2 -3

Position Value 83 82 81 80 8-1 8-2 8-3

Quantity 512 64 8 1 1/ 1/ 1/
8 64 512
Represented

Number Systems 62
(Continued from previous slide..)

Example

127.548 = 1 x 82 + 2 x 81 + 7 x 80 + 5 x 8-1 + 4 x 8-2

= 64 + 16 + 7 + 5/8 + 4/64
= 87 + 0.625 + 0.0625
= 87.687510

Number Systems 63
▪ Computer Science Illuminated – Nell Dale, John Lewis
➢ Chapter 2
▪ Computer Fundamentals – Pradeep K. Sinha, Priti Sinha
➢ Chapter 3

Number Systems 64