UE20EC205

Notes

Unit 1: Number System & Logic Gates

Number systems:

Decimal Numbers:

• Decimal digits are joined together to form longer decimal numbers.

• Each column of a decimal number has ten times the weight of the previous column.

• From right to left, the column weights are 1, 10, 100, 1000, and so on.

• Decimal numbers are referred to as base 10. The base is indicated by a subscript after
the number to prevent confusion when working in more than one base.

• An N-digit decimal number represents one of 10N possibilities: 0, 1, 2, 3, …, 10N − 1. This

is called the range of the number.

• For example, a three-digit decimal number represents one of 1000 possibilities in the
range of 0 to 999.

• Bits represent one of two values, 0 or 1, and are joined together to form binary
numbers.

• Each column of a binary number has twice the weight of the previous column, so binary
numbers are base 2.

• In binary, the column weights (again from right to left) are 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128,
256, 512, 1024, 2048, and so on.

• An N-bit binary number represents one of 2N possibilities: 0, 1, 2, 3,…, 2N − 1.

 Table: Binary numbers and their decimal equivalent

Example: BINARY TO DECIMAL CONVERSION

Convert the binary number 101102 to decimal.

Solution:

Example: DECIMAL TO BINARY CONVERSION

Convert the decimal number 8410 to binary.

Solution:

• Two methods:

Method 1: Find the largest power of 2 that fits, subtract and repeat: (Left to right)

8410 64x1
 84 - 64 = 20 16x1

20 - 16 = 4 4x1 = 10101002

8410 = 10101002

Method 2: Repeatedly divide by 2, remainder goes in next most significant bit (Do and
verify). (Right to left)

Hexadecimal Numbers:

• “Hexadecimal,” a term coined by IBM in 1963, derives from the Greek hexi (six) and
Latin decem (ten).

• Writing long binary numbers becomes tedious and prone to error.

• A group of four bits represents one of 24 = 16 possibilities.

• Hence, it is sometimes more convenient to work in base 16, called hexadecimal.

• Hexadecimal numbers use the digits 0 to 9 along with the letters A to F, as shown in
the following Table.

• Columns in base 16 have weights of 1, 16, 162 (or 256), 163 (or 4096), and so on.
 Example: HEXADECIMAL TO BINARY AND DECIMAL CONVERSION

Convert the hexadecimal number 2ED16 to binary and to decimal.

Solution:

To Binary: Referring to the table:

216 = 00102, E16 = 11102 and D16 = 11012,

so 2ED16 = 0010111011012.

Conversion to decimal requires the arithmetic shown below:

Example: BINARY TO HEXADECIMAL CONVERSION

Convert the binary number 11110102 to hexadecimal.

Solution:

Start reading from the right:

Hence 11110102 = 7A16

Example 1.5: DECIMAL TO HEXADECIMAL AND BINARY CONVERSION

Convert the decimal number 33310 to hexadecimal and binary.

Solution: Like decimal to binary conversion, decimal to hexadecimal conversion can be

done from the left or the right.

Xx162 + Yx161 + Zx160

33310 = 14D16

To convert from hexadecimal to binary: 14D16 = 1010011012.

Try 2nd method i.e. repeated division.

Bytes and Nibbles:

• A group of eight bits is called a byte. It represents one of 28 = 256 possibilities.

• The size of objects stored in computer memories is customarily measured in bytes

rather than bits.
• A group of four bits, or half a byte, is called a nibble. It represents one of 2 4 = 16
possibilities.

• One hexadecimal digit stores one nibble and two hexadecimal digits store one full byte.

• Microprocessors handle data in chunks called words. The size of a word depends on
the architecture of the microprocessor.

ESTIMATING POWERS OF TWO:

• 210 = 1024 (or 1 kilo)

• similarly 220 is 1 million (or 1 mega) and

• 230 is 1 billion (or 1 giga).

Example:

Find the approximate value of 224 without using a calculator.

Solution:

Split the exponent into a multiple of ten and the remainder.

• 1024 bytes is called a kilobyte (KB).

• 1024 bits is called a kilobit (Kb or Kbit).

• Similarly, MB, Mb, GB, and Gb are used for millions and billions of bytes and bits.

• Memory capacity is usually measured in bytes.

• Communication speed is usually measured in bits/sec.

• For example, the maximum speed of a dial-up modem is usually 56 kbits/sec (kbps).

Binary Addition:

• Example: BINARY ADDITION

• Compute 01112 + 01012.

• Solution:

ADDITION WITH OVERFLOW:

• Digital systems usually operate on a fixed number of digits. Addition is said to overflow
if the result is too big to fit in the available digits.

Example: Compute 11012 + 01012. Does overflow occur?

Solution: This result overflows the range of a 4-bit binary number.

Signed Binary Numbers:

• Several schemes exist to represent signed binary numbers; the two most widely
employed are called sign/magnitude and two’s complement.

Sign/Magnitude Numbers:

• An N-bit sign/magnitude number uses the most significant bit as the sign and the
remaining N−1 bits as the magnitude (absolute value).

• A sign bit of 0 indicates positive and a sign bit of 1 indicates negative.

Example: SIGN/MAGNITUDE NUMBERS

Write 5 and −5 as 4-bit sign/magnitude numbers

Solution:

Both numbers have a magnitude of 510 = 1012.

Thus, 510 = 01012 and −510 = 11012.

Two’s Complement Numbers:

• Two’s complement numbers are identical to unsigned binary numbers except that the
most significant bit position has a weight of −2N-1 instead of 2N-1.

• The sign of a two’s complement number is reversed in a process called taking the two’s
complement.

• The process consists of inverting all of the bits in the number, then adding 1 to the least
significant bit position.

• This is useful to find the representation of a negative number or to determine the

magnitude of a negative number.

Example:

TWO’S COMPLEMENT REPRESENTATION OF A NEGATIVE NUMBER

• Find the representation of −210 as a 4-bit two’s complement number.

• Solution:

• Start with + 210 = 00102.

• To get −210, invert the bits and add 1.

• Inverting 00102 produces 11012.

• 11012 + 1 = 11102.

• So −210 is 11102.

Example:

VALUE OF NEGATIVE TWO’S COMPLEMENT NUMBERS

• Find the decimal value of the two’s complement number 10012.

• Solution:

• 10012 has a leading 1, so it must be negative.

• To find its magnitude, invert the bits and add 1.

• Inverting 10012 = 01102.

• 01102 + 1 = 01112 = 710.

• Hence, 10012 = −710.

Example:
 ADDING TWO’S COMPLEMENT NUMBERS

• Compute (a) −210 + 110 and

• (b) −710 + 710 using two’s complement numbers.

• Solution:

• (a) −210 + 110 = 11102 + 00012 = 11112 = −110.

• (b) −710 + 710 = 10012 + 01112 = 100002.

• The fifth bit is discarded, leaving the correct 4-bit result 00002.

Example:

• SUBTRACTING TWO’S COMPLEMENT NUMBERS

• Compute (a) 510 − 310 and

(b) 310 − 510 using 4-bit two’s complement numbers.

• Subtraction is performed by taking the two’s complement of the second number, then
adding (please do it and verify) .

• Like unsigned numbers, N-bit two’s complement numbers represent one of 2 N possible
values.

• However the values are split between positive and negative numbers.

• For example, a 4-bit unsigned number represents 16 values: 0 to 15.

• A 4-bit two’s complement number also represents 16 values: −8 to 7.

• In general, the range of an N-bit two’s complement number spans *−2N-1, 2N-1 − 1+.

• Adding two N-bit positive numbers or negative numbers may cause overflow if the
result is greater than 2N-1 − 1 or less than −2N-1 (i.e. the range)

• Adding a positive number to a negative number never causes overflow.

• Unlike unsigned numbers, a carry out of the most significant column does not indicate
overflow.

• Instead, overflow occurs if the two numbers being added have the same sign bit and the
result has the opposite sign bit.

Example:

ADDING TWO’S COMPLEMENT NUMBERS WITH OVERFLOW

 Compute 410 + 510 using 4-bit two’s complement numbers. Does the result overflow?

Solution:

410 + 510 = 01002 + 01012 = 10012 = −710.

• The result overflows the range of 4-bit positive two’s complement numbers, producing
an incorrect negative result.

• If the computation had been done using five or more bits, the result 01001 2 = 910
would have been correct.

Two’s Complement Numbers:

• When a two’s complement number is extended to more bits, the sign bit must be copied
into the most significant bit positions. This process is called sign extension.

• For example, the numbers 3 and −3 are written as 4-bit two’s complement numbers
0011 and 1101, respectively.

• Similarly extend the sign for 7-bit two’s complement numbers.

Comparison of Number Systems:

• The three most commonly used binary number systems are unsigned, two’s
complement, and sign/magnitude.

• Following Table compares the range of N-bit numbers in each of these three systems.

• Two’s complement numbers are convenient because they represent both positive and
negative integers and because ordinary addition works for all numbers.

Table: Range of N-bit numbers

Number line and 4-bit binary encodings:

Figure: Number line and 4-bit binary encodings