Module 4 – Number System

BITS Pilani Dr. Jagat Sesh Challa

Pilani Campus
Department of Computer Science & Information Systems
Module Overview

• Binary Numbering System

• Binary Arithmetic

• IEEE Floating Point Representation

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
 BITS Pilani
Pilani Campus

Binary Numbering System

The human numbering system

We use digits
0 to 9 -> 10 symbols (digits) (the decimal system)
What is so special about the number 10?
Nothing!

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
The numbering system for
computers

• A simple switch can be ON or OFF – 1 or 0

• Integrated circuits (IC) - billions of switches; allow storage of
huge amounts of information.
• Binary or base-2 number system created using/manipulating just
these 2 states

• Other systems also used: octal (base-8) and hexadecimal (base-

16)

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Decimal vs Binary vs Octal vs
Hexadecimal: An example

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
How a decimal number is
interpreted?
• Eg.: 357
• Digits -> 3 5 7
• Weights-> 10^2 10^1 10^0
• MSD LSD
• Perform sum over Digits*Weights:
• 3*10^2 + 5*10^1 + 7*10^0
• 357

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Binary numbering system
0s and 1s
Binary digits or bits

One bit – can represent 0 and 1 in decimal

Two bits – can represent 0, 1, 2, 3 in decimal
Three bits – can represent 0 to 7 in decimal
In general:
n bits – can represent 0 to 2^n – 1 numbers in decimal

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Binary numbering system

Binary to decimal conversion

E.g.: 10101 (done on the board)

Decimal to binary conversion

E.g.: 16 (done on the board)

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Negative Binary Numbers

• How do we signify negative numbers in arithmetic?

• The – symbol to the left of MSD

• So… 1111 is 15, then -1111 should -15

• But… computers cannot handle any symbol apart from 0

and 1

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Negative Binary Numbers
• To handle negative numbers: left-most bit used to indicate the sign.
• Known by various names: Most Significant Bit (MSB), sign-bit or high-order
bit
• Positive numbers: MSB is 0
• Negative numbers: MSB is 1

• For 8 bit unsigned numbers: range of 0 to 255 (2^8 – 1)

• What about signed numbers?
o -127 to 127 or -128 to 127

• How does the computer know whether to treat a number as signed or

unsigned?
o It cannot. It’s the programmer’s job to tell.
Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Negative Binary Numbers
Three schemes for representing negative binary numbers:
• Signed-magnitude representation
• One’s complement
• Two’s complement

• We will discuss them wrt 8 bit integers

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Signed-magnitude
representation
MSB is the sign as usual
7 bits for the magnitude or the value
Range: -127 to 127
Examples:
109 01101101
-109 11101101
127 01111111
-127 11111111
What about zero?

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
1’s complement
As before, MSB indicates the sign. Range: -127 to 127
Negative no. = one’s complement of the positive no.
Invert all the bits -> 1s to 0s and 0s to 1s
Examples:
15 00001111
-15 11110000
85 01010101
-85 10101010
What about zero?

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
2’s complement
2’s complement of a no. = it’s 1’s complement + 1 Most widely used!!
Range: -128 to 127
Example: calculating the two’s complement representation of -15
Decimal 15 00001111
In one’s complement 11110000
Adding 1 +1
In two’s complement 11110001

What about zero?

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
 BITS Pilani
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Binary Arithmetic
Binary arithmetic rules

0 1 is carry. In binary addition carry is discarded

Note: for a
positive number,
its binary
representation in
SMF, 1CT or 2CT
– it is the same
1 Borrow 1 from next high order digit number itself

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Subtraction using 1CT

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Subtraction using 1CT:
Example 1

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Subtraction using 1CT:
Example 2

-3

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Subtraction using 2 CT

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Subtraction using 2 CT:
Example 1

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Substraction using 2CT:
Example 2

-3

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Addition in 2’s Complement

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Addition in 2’s Complement

Ø Overflows occur when the sum does not fit in the given number of bits

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
 BITS Pilani
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IEEE Floating Point Representation

Real numbers in binary

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Real numbers in binary (contd.)

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Floating point representation

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Floating point representation
(contd.)
• BUT…

• Different ways to represent a floating point number

• No fixed position of decimal point
• Loss of precision possible (Why?)

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
IEEE 754 floating point
representation

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
IEEE 754 floating point
representation (contd.)

Single precision (32 bit)

Double precision (64 bit)

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
IEEE floating point
representation

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
IEEE floating point
representation

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
IEEE floating point
representation

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
IEEE floating point
representation

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Converting numbers to IEEE
format
• Convert and normalize the integer part into binary

• Convert the fraction part using the technique explained earlier

• Add the two results and adjust them to produce a proper final
conversion

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Example 1
• 12.375

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Example 2
1 1011 0110 011 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000

( −1) 1 × 210110110 −01111111 × 1.011

= − 1.375 × 255
= −49539595901075456.0
= − 4.9539595901075456 × 1016

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus
Example 3
• -105.625

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