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Mohammed Ali
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COMP 273 0 - binary representation of positive integers Jan.

7, 2016

Welcome to COMP 273. Let’s get started! You all know that computers represent numbers using
0’s and 1’s. But how exactly this works is probably a mystery for most of you. We start out
with a basic and fundamental example, namely how to represent integers. We’ll start with positive
integers, then negative integers, and then we’ll turn to non-integers i.e. real numbers.

Decimal vs. binary representation of positive integers


Up to now in your life, you’ve represented numbers using a decimal representation (the ten digits
from 0,1, ... 9). The reason 10 is special is that we have ten fingers. There is no other reason for
using decimal. There is is nothing special otherwise about the number ten.
Computers don’t represent numbers using decimal. Instead, they represent numbers using bi-
nary. All the algorithms you learned in grade school for addition, subtraction, multiplication and
division work for binary as well. Before we review these algorithms, lets make sure we understand
what binary representations of numbers are. We’ll start with positive integers.
In decimal, we write numbers using digits {0, 1, . . . , 9}, in particular, as sums of powers of ten.
For example,
238ten = 2 ∗ 102 + 3 ∗ 101 + 8 ∗ 100
In binary, we represent numbers using bits {0, 1}, in particular, as a sum of powers of two:
11010two = 1 ∗ 24 + 1 ∗ 23 + 0 ∗ 22 + 1 ∗ 21 + 0 ∗ 20
I have put little subscripts (ten and two) to indicate that we are using a particular representation
(decimal or binary). We don’t need to always put this subscript in, but sometimes it helps to remind
us of what base we are using. For example, 11010two is not the same thing as 11010ten .
It is trivial to write a decimal number as a sum of powers of ten and it is also trivial to write a
binary number as a sum of powers of two, namely, just as I did above. To convert from a binary
number to a decimal number is also trivial. You need to write the powers of 2 as decimal numbers
and then add up these decimal numbers.
11010two = 16 + 8 + 2
To do so, you need to memorize the powers of 2
20 = 1, 21 = 2, 22 = 4, 23 = 8, 24 = 16, 25 = 32, 26 = 64, 27 = 128, 28 = 256, 29 = 512, 210 = 1024, . . .
How do you convert from a decimal number to a binary number? Your first idea would be to
find the largest power of 2 that is less than the number, subtract that power of 2, and then repeat
to find the smaller powers of 2 in the remainder. This works, but you need to know the powers for
2 to use it.
On the next page, I show another algorithm for converting from decimal to binary, and an exam-
ple. The algorithm repeatedly divides the decimal number by 2, and concatenates the remainders.
Why does this work? For any positive number m, let
m = bm/2c ∗ 2 + (m mod 2)
where bm/2c is the quotient and b c rounds down (floor). Let (m mod 2) be the remainder, i.e.
division mod 2. In the lecture slides, this was written with slightly different notation for mod – you
should be familiar with both.

last updated: 16th Jan, 2016 1


COMP 273 0 - binary representation of positive integers Jan. 7, 2016

When m is already represented as binary number (i.e. “base 2”), the quotient and remainder
are trivial to obtain. The remainder is the rightmost bit – called the least significant bit (LSB). The
quotient is the number with the LSB chopped off. To convince yourself of this, note that writing a
positive integer as an n bit binary number means that you write it as a sum of powers of 2,
n−1
X n−1
X n−2
X
i i
(bn−1 bn−2 . . . b2 b1 b0 )two ≡ bi 2 = bi 2 + b0 = 2 × bi+1 2i + b0
i=0 i=1 i=0

Here is the convertion algorithm:

Algorithm 1 Convert decimal to binary


INPUT: a number m expressed in base 10 (decimal)
OUTPUT: the number m expressed in base 2 using a bit array b[ ]
i←0
while m > 0 do
bi ← m%2
m ← m/2
i←i+1
end while

For example,

quotient remainder interpretation (not part of algorithm)


241
120 1 241 = 120*2 + 1
60 0 120 = 60*2 + 0
30 0 60 = 30*2 + 0
15 0 30 = 15*2 + 0
7 1 15 = 7*2 + 1
3 1 7 = 3*2 + 1
1 1 3 = 1*2 + 1
0 1 1 = 0*2 + 1
0 0 0 = 0*2 + 0
0 0
: :

Thus,
241ten = 11110001two .
You need to be able to do this for yourself. So practice it!
If you are not fully clear why the algorithm is correct, consider what happens when you run
the algorithm where you already have the number in binary representation. (The quotient and
remainder of a division by 2 does not depend on how you have represented the number i.e. whether
it is represented in decimal or binary.)

last updated: 16th Jan, 2016 2


COMP 273 0 - binary representation of positive integers Jan. 7, 2016

(quotient) (remainder)
11110001
1111000 1
111100 0
11110 0
1111 0
111 1
11 1
1 1
0 1
0 0
0 0
: :

The remainders are simply the bits used in the binary representation of the number!
Final note: The representation has an infinite number of 0’s on the left which can be truncated.
I mention this because in the heat of an exam you might get confused about which way to order
the 0’s and 1’s. Remembering that you have infinitely many 0’s when you continue to apply the
trick. This tells you that the remainder bits go from right to left.

Performing addition with positive binary numbers


Doing addition with positive integers is as easy with the binary representation as it is with the
decimal representation. Let’s assume an eight bit representation and compute 26 + 27.

00110100 ← carry bits (ignore the 0’s for now)


00011010 ← 26
+ 00011011 ← 27
00110101 ← 53

Its the same algorithm that you use with decimal, except that you are only allowed 0’s and 1’s.
Whenever the sum in a column is 2 or more, you carry to the next column:

2i + 2i = 2i+1

We would like to apply the grade school algorithm to do subtraction, multiplication and long division
in binary. However, there are some subtleties in doing so. For example, when you subtract a big
positive number from a small positive number, you end up with a negative number, and I have not
yet told you how to represent negative numbers. That’s what I’ll start with next lecture.

last updated: 16th Jan, 2016 3

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