LESSON 4

COMPUTER DATA REPRESENTATION

OBJECTIVES
AT THE END OF THE LESSON, STUDENTS MUST BE ABLE TO:
• KNOW THE DIFFERENT NUMBER SYSTEMS SUCH AS
BINARY, OCTAL, DECIMAL AND HEXADECIMAL
• LEARN HOW COMPUTER STORES INFORMATION
• LEARN TO CONVERT DIFFERENT NUMBER SYSTEM
COMMON NUMBER SYSTEMS
Used by Used in
System Base Symbols humans? computers?

Decimal 10 0, 1, … 9 Yes No

Binary 2 0, 1 No Yes

Octal 8 0, 1, … 7 No No

Hexa- 16 0, 1, … 9, No No
decimal A, B, … F
QUANTITIES/COUNTING (1 OF 3)
Decimal Binary Octal Hexadecimal
0 0 0 0
1 1 1 1
2 10 2 2
3 11 3 3
4 100 4 4
5 101 5 5
6 110 6 6
7 111 7 7
QUANTITIES/COUNTING (2 OF 3)
Decimal Binary Octal Hexadecimal
8 1000 10 8
9 1001 11 9
10 1010 12 A
11 1011 13 B
12 1100 14 C
13 1101 15 D
14 1110 16 E
15 1111 17 F
QUANTITIES/COUNTING (3 OF 3)
Decimal Binary Octal Hexadecimal
16 10000 20 10
17 10001 21 11
18 10010 22 12
19 10011 23 13
20 10100 24 14
21 10101 25 15
22 10110 26 16
23 10111 27 17 Etc.
WHAT IS A BINARY NUMBER OR BASE-2 NUMBER?
• A BINARY NUMBER IS A NUMBER THAT INCLUDES ONLY
ONES AND ZEROES.
• THE NUMBER COULD BE OF ANY LENGTH
• THE FOLLOWING ARE ALL EXAMPLES OF BINARY
NUMBERS
0 10101
1 0101010
10 1011110101
01 0110101110
111000 000111

• ANOTHER NAME FOR BINARY IS BASE-2 (PRONOUNCED

"BASE TWO")
WHAT IS A DECIMAL NUMBER OR BASE-10 NUMBER?
• THE NUMBERS THAT WE ARE USED TO SEEING ARE CALLED
DECIMAL NUMBERS.
• DECIMAL NUMBERS CONSIST OF THE DIGITS FROM 0 (ZERO)
THROUGH 9.
• THE FOLLOWING ARE EXAMPLES OF DECIMAL NUMBERS:
3 76
15 32423234
890 53
• ANOTHER NAME FOR DECIMAL NUMBERS ARE BASE-10
(PRONOUNCED "BASE TEN") NUMBERS.
EQUIVALENCE OF BINARY AND DECIMAL
• EVERY BINARY NUMBER HAS A CORRESPONDING DECIMAL
VALUE (AND VICE VERSA)
•EXAMPLES:
BINARY NUMBER DECIMAL
EQUIVALENT
1 1
10 2
11 3
… …
1010111 87
THE VALUE OF A BINARY NUMBER
• EVEN THOUGH THEY LOOK EXACTLY THE SAME, THE VALUE OF
THE BINARY NUMBER, 101, IS DIFFERENT FROM THE VALUE OF
THE DECIMAL NUMBER, 101.
• THE VALUE OF THE BINARY NUMBER, 101, IS EQUAL TO THE
DECIMAL NUMBER FIVE (I.E. 5)
• THE VALUE OF THE DECIMAL NUMBER, 101, IS EQUAL TO
ONE HUNDRED AND ONE
• WHEN YOU SEE A NUMBER THAT CONSISTS OF ONLY ONES AND
ZEROES, YOU MUST BE TOLD IF IT IS A BINARY NUMBER OR A
DECIMAL NUMBER.
WHAT IS OCTAL NUMBER OR BASE-8 NUMBER?
• BASE: 8
• DIGITS: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
◼ Octal number: 3578
= (3 x 82 ) + (5 x 81) + (7 x 80)

• To convert to base 10, beginning with the rightmost digit,

multiply each nth digit by 8(n-1), and add all of the results
together.
WHAT IS A HEXADECIMAL OR BASE-16 NUMBER?

• A “HEXADECIMAL” NUMBER IS A NUMBER WHERE EACH DIGIT

MAY BE ONE OF SIXTEEN POSSIBLE VALUES.
• THE POSSIBLE VALUES FOR A HEXADECIMAL DIGIT ARE:
0123456789ABCDEF
• A DIGIT OF
“A” STANDS FOR THE NUMBER 10
“B” STANDS FOR THE NUMBER 11
“C” STANDS FOR THE NUMBER 12
“D” STANDS FOR THE NUMBER 13
“E” STANDS FOR THE NUMBER 14
“F” STANDS FOR THE NUMBER 15
HEXADECIMAL NUMBERS
• THE FOLLOWING ARE ALL VALID HEXADECIMAL NUMBERS:
A
9 (YES, A HEXADECIMAL NUMBER DOES NOT HAVE TO CONTAIN
LETTERS)
1001 (YES, A HEXADECIMAL NUMBER DOES NOT HAVE TO CONTAIN
LETTERS)
9C5
BFE

• TO UNDERSTAND WHAT A SPECIFIC HEXADECIMAL NUMBER MEANS, YOU

CAN CONVERT IT INTO AN EQUIVALENT DECIMAL NUMBER. (AS WE WILL
DISCUSS LATER UNDER CONVERSION)
ALL INFORMATION ON COMPUTERS IS STORED AS NUMBERS
• ALLINFORMATION THAT IS PROCESSED BY COMPUTERS IS
CONVERTED IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER INTO A SEQUENCE OF
NUMBERS. THIS INCLUDES
• NUMERIC INFORMATION
• TEXTUAL INFORMATION AND
• PICTURES
• THEREFORE, IF WE CAN DERIVE A WAY TO STORE AND RETRIEVE
NUMBERS ELECTRONICALLY THIS METHOD CAN BE USED BY
COMPUTERS TO STORE AND RETRIEVE ANY TYPE OF
INFORMATION.

15
BINARY NUMBERS ARE AT THE HEART OF HOW A COMPUTER
STORES ALL INFORMATION
• COMPUTERS STORE ALL INFORMATION USING BINARY
NUMBERS

• COMPUTERS USE BINARY NUMBERS IN DIFFERENT WAYS TO

STORE DIFFERENT TYPES OF INFORMATION.

• COMMON TYPES OF INFORMATION THAT ARE STORED BY

COMPUTERS ARE :
• WHOLE NUMBERS (I.E. INTEGERS).
EXAMPLES: 8 97 -732 0 -5 ETC
• NUMBERS WITH DECIMAL POINTS.
EXAMPLES: 3.5 -1.234 0.765 999.001 ETC
• TEXTUAL INFORMATION (INCLUDING LETTERS, SYMBOLS
AND DIGITS)
INTEGERS
• INTEGERS (E.G. 87)
A COMPUTER STORES INTEGER NUMBERS (I.E.
“WHOLE” NUMBERS) SIMPLY AS THE EQUIVALENT
BINARY VALUE FOR THAT NUMBER.
LETTERS AND SYMBOLS
• TO STORE LETTERS AND SYMBOLS, THE COMPUTER ASSIGNS
EVERY CHARACTER ON THE KEYBOARD A NUMERICAL VALUE.
• COMPUTERS REMEMBER LETTERS AND OTHER SYMBOLS BY
STORING THE BINARY NUMBER FOR THE SYMBOL.
• FOR THIS SYSTEM TO WORK A STANDARD NUMBERING SYSTEM
NEEDS TO BE DEFINED AND CONSISTENTLY USED FOR ALL
SYMBOLS THAT THE COMPUTER NEEDS TO PROCESS.

19
 ASCII Some ASCII values (values 1-31 and• 12896are
• • 64 = @ •
= ` not shown)

• ASCII (AMERICAN
32 = SPACE 97 = a
• 33 = ! • 65 = A • 98 = b
STANDARD CODE FOR • 34 = “ • 66 = B • 99 = c
• 35 = # • 67 = C • 100 = d
INFORMATION • 36 = $ • 68 = D • 101 = e
INTERCHANGE) IS THE • 37 = % • 69 = E • 102 = f
STANDARD • 38 = & • 70 = F • 103 = g
• 39 = ` • 71 = G • 104 = h
NUMBERING GIVEN TO • 40 = ( • 72 = H • 105 = i
ALL CHARACTERS ON A • 41 = ) • 73 = I • 106 = j
STANDARD KEYBOARD. • 42 = * • 74 = J • 107 = k
• • 75 = K • 108 = l
• “ASCII VALUES” RANGE
43 = +
• 44 = , • 76 = L • 109 = m
• 45 = - • 77 = M • 110 = n
IN NUMBER FROM 1 • 46 = . • 78 = N • 111 = o
TO 128. SOME “ASCII • 47 = / • 79 = O • 112 = p
VALUES” AND THEIR • 48 = 0 • 80 = P • 113 = q

ASSOCIATED SYMBOLS • 49 = 1 • 81 = Q • 114 = r

• 50 = 2 • 82 = R • 115 = s
ARE LISTED TO THE • 51 = 3 • 83 = S • 116 = t
RIGHT. • 52 = 4 • 84 = T • 117 = u
• • 85 = U • 118 = v
• NOTE THAT EVERY
53 = 5
• 54 = 6 • 86 = V • 119 = w

SYMBOL ON A • 55 = 7 • 87 = W • 120 = x
• 56 = 8 • 88 = X • 121 = y
STANDARD KEYBOARD • 57 = 9 • 89 = Y • 122 = z
HAS AN ASCII VALUE. • 58 = : • 90 = Z • 123 = {

EVEN THE DIGITS • 59 = ; • 91 = [ • 124 = |

• 60 = < • 92 = \ • 125 = }
0,1,2,…9 HAVE ASCII • 61 = = • 93 = ] • 126 = ~
VALUES. • 62 = > • 94 = ^
• 63 = ? • 95 = _
WHY DO 0 THROUGH 9 HAVE ASCII VALUES?
• NUMBERS THAT ARE USED IN MATHEMATICAL CALCULATIONS
• IF A COMPUTER NEEDS TO DO MATH WITH A NUMBER IT WILL STORE THAT
NUMBER USING THE APPROPRIATE BINARY REPRESENTATION OF THE NUMBER.
• THIS MAKES IT EASIER FOR THE COMPUTER TO PERFORM MATHEMATICAL
CALCULATIONS WITH THE NUMBER.
• EXAMPLE: 5 WOULD BE STORED AS
00000101

• NUMBERS THAT ARE NOT USED IN MATHEMATICAL CALCULATIONS

• IF THE COMPUTER DOES NOT NEED TO DO MATH WITH THE NUMBER (E.G. A ZIP
CODE) THEN IT WILL GENERALLY STORE THE NUMBER USING THE ASCII VALUES
OF THE DIGITS.
• IN THIS CASE USING THE ASCII VALUE IS MORE EFFICIENT (FOR REASONS WE
WILL NOT EXPLAIN HERE).
• EXAMPLE 5 WOULD BE STORED USING ITS ASCII VALUE OF 53 WHICH IS
REPRESENTED IN BINARY AS
00110101
OTHER NUMBERING SYSTEMS (UNICODE AND EBCDIC)
• ASCII
• ASCII WAS THE STANDARD NUMBERING SYSTEM FOR MANY YEARS AND IS STILL USED WIDELY
TODAY.
• EBCDIC
• IS A DIFFERENT NUMBERING SYSTEM USED BY IBM MAINFRAME COMPUTERS.
• IT IS VERY SIMILAR TO ASCII BUT USES DIFFERENT NUMBERS TO REPRESENT THE SYMBOLS.
• EBCDIC STANDS FOR “EXTENDED BINARY CODED DECIMAL INTERCHANGE CODE”
• UNICODE
• ASCII AND EBCDIC ARE LIMITED TO JUST THE BASIC ENGLISH LETTERS AND COMMON SYMBOLS.
• TODAY COMPUTERS USE MANY DIFFERENT SYMBOLS INCLUDING LETTERS FROM LANGUAGES THAT
DON’T USE ENGLISH LETTERS (E.G. HEBREW, CHINESE, ETC.) AND INTERNATIONAL SYMBOLS (E.G.
THE ENGLISH POUND SIGN)
• UNICODE DEFINES A UNIQUE NUMBER FOR EVERY SYMBOL IN ALL KNOWN LANGUAGES (E.G.
HEBREW, CHINESE, ETC.) AND COMMONLY USED NON-LETTER SYMBOLS (E.G. ENGLISH POUND
SIGN, COPYRIGHT SYMBOL, ETC).
• MODERN PROGRAMS ARE MOVING TOWARDS USING UNICODE TO STORE LETTERS AND SYMBOLS.
• IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT UNICODE NUMBERS 1-128 CORRESPOND TO THE EXACT SAME SYMBOLS AS ASCII 1-
128
CONVERSION

•NUMBER SYSTEM CONVERSION