UNIT-2/LECTURE-4

2’s complement
Binary Number System is one the type of most popular Number Representation techniques
that used in digital systems. In the Binary System, there are only two symbols or possible
digit values, i.e., 0 (off) and 1 (on). Represented by any device that only 2 operating states or
possible conditions.

Generally, there are two types of complement of Binary number: 1’s complement and 2’s
complement. To get 1’s complement of a binary number, simply invert the given number. For
example, 1’s complement of binary number 110010 is 001101. To get 2’s complement of
binary number is 1’s complement of given number plus 1 to the least significant bit (LSB).
For example 2’s complement of binary number 10010 is (01101) + 1 = 01110.

2’s Complement of a Binary Number:

There is a simple algorithm to convert a binary number into 2’s complement. To get 2’s
complement of a binary number, simply invert the given number and add 1 to the least
significant bit (LSB) of given result. Implementation of 4-bit 2’s complementation number is
given as following below.

Example-1: Find 2’s complement of binary number 10101110.

Simply invert each bit of given binary number, which will be 01010001. Then add 1 to the
LSB of this result, i.e., 01010001+1=01010010 which is answer.
Example-2: Find 2’s complement of binary number 10001.001.
Simply invert each bit of given binary number, which will be 01110.110 Then add 1 to the
LSB of this result, i.e., 01110.110+1=01110.111 which is answer.
Example-3: Find 2’s complement of each 3 bit binary number.
Simply invert each bit of given binary number, then add 1 to LSB of these inverted numbers,
 Binary number 1’s complement 2’s complement

000 111 000

001 110 111

010 101 110

011 100 101

100 011 100

101 010 011

110 001 010

111 000 001

Uses of 2’s Complement Binary Numbers:

There are various uses of 2’s complement of Binary numbers, mainly in signed Binary
number representation and various arithmetic operations for Binary numbers, e.g., additions,
subtractions, etc. Since 2’s complement representation is unambiguous, so it very useful in
Computer number representation.

2’s Complementation in Signed Binary number Representation:

Positive numbers are simply represented as simple Binary representation. But if the number is
negative then it is represented using 2’s complement. First represent the number with positive
sign and then take 2’s complement of that number.

Example: Let we are using 5 bits registers. The representation of -5 and +5 will be as
follows:

+5 is represented as it is represented in sign magnitude method. -5 is represented using the

following steps:
(i) +5 = 0 0101
(ii) Take 2’s complement of 0 0101 and that is 1 1011. MSB is 1 which indicates that number
is negative.
MSB is always 1 in case of negative numbers.

Range of Numbers: For k bits register, positive largest number that can be stored is (2 (k-1)-1)
and negative lowest number that can be stored is -(2(k-1)).

The advantage of this system is that 0 has only one representation for -0 and +0. Zero (0) is
considered as always positive (sign bit is 0) in 2’s complement representation. Therefore, it is
unique or unambiguous representation.

Lets see arithmetic operations: Subtractions and Additions in 2’s complement binary
numbers.

Subtractions by 2’s Complement:

The algorithm to subtract two binary number using 2’s complement is explained as following
below:
 Take 2’s complement of the subtrahend
 Add with minuend
 If the result of above addition has carry bit 1, then it is dropped and this result will be
positive number.
 If there is no carry bit 1, then take 2’s complement of the result which will be negative
Note that subtrahend is number that to be subtracted from the another number, i.e., minuend.
Also, note that adding end-around carry-bit occurs only in 1’s complement arithmetic
operations but not 2’s complement arithmetic operations.

Example (Case-1: When Carry bit 1): Evaluate 10101 - 00101

According to above algorithm, take 2’s complement of subtrahend 00101, which will be
11011, then add both of these. So, 10101 + 11011 =1 10000. Since, there is carry bit 1, so
dropped this carry bit 1, and take this result will be 10000 will be positive number.

Example (Case-2: When no Carry bit): Evaluate 11001 - 11100

According to above algorithm, take 2’s complement of subtrahend 11110, which will be
00100. Then add both of these, So, 11001 + 00100 =11101. Since there is no carry bit 1, so
take 2’s complement of above result, which will be 00011, and this is negative number, i.e,
00011, which is the answer.
Similarly, you can subtract two mixed (with fractional part) binary numbers.

Additions by 2’s Complement:

There are difference scenario for addition of two binary numbers using 2’s complement.
These are explained as following below.

Case-1: Addition of positive and negative number when positive number has greater
magnitude:
When positive number has greater magnitude, then take simply 2’s complement of negative
number and carry bit 1 is dropped and this result will be positive number.

Example: Add 1110 and -1101.

So, take 2’s complement of 1101, which will be 0011, then add with given number. So,
1110+0011=1 0001, and carry bit 1 is dropped and this result will be positive number, i.e.,
+0001.
Note that if the register size is big then use sign extension method of MSB bit to preserve
sign of number.

Case-2: Addition of positive and negative number when negative number has greater
magnitude:
When the negative number has greater magnitude, then take 2’s complement of negative
number and add with given positive number. Since there will not be any end-around carry bit,
so take 2’s complement of the result and this result will be negative.

Example: Add 1010 and -1100 in five-bit registers.

Note that there are five-bit registers, so these new numbers will have 01010 and -01100. Now
take 2’s complement of 01100 which will be 10100 and add 01010+10100=11110. Then take
2’s complement of this result, which will be 00010 and this will be negative number, i.e., -
00010, which is the answer.

Case-3: Addition of two negative numbers:

You need to take 2’s complement for both numbers, then add these 2’s complement of
numbers. Since there will always be end-around carry bit, so it is dropped. Now, take 2’s
complement also of previous result, so this will be negative number.
Alternatively, you can add both of these Binary numbers and take result which will be
negative only.

Example: add -1010 and -0101 in five bit-register.

These five bit numbers are -01010 and -00101. Add 2’s complements of these numbers,
10110+11011 =1 10001. Since, there is a carry bit 1, so it is dropped. Now take the 2’s
complement of this result, which will be 01111 and this number is negative, i.e, -01111,
which is answer.