1.

Information Representation
1.1. Data Representation
-Deals with how different data is represented or stored in the computer
-The basis of any number system consists of:

• A base: the number of digits that a number system can use to represent numbers
• Place value for each digit: digits in certain positions have a specific value

Denary
- Number system which represents numbers in Base 10 integer digits

-Uses 10 possible numbers, 0-9

Binary Systems
- Number system which represents numbers in Base 2 integer digits
Possible bits (binary digits): 0 and 1
All data and characters are represented in binary
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

-E.g. 65 in binary is 0100001

Denary vs. Binary prefixes:

DenaryPrefix factor value BinaryPrefix factor value
kilo- (k) ×10^3 kibi- (Ki) ×2^10
mega- (M) ×10^6 mebi- (Mi) ×2^20
giga- (G) ×10^9 gebi- (Gi) ×2^30
tera- (T) ×10^12 tebi- (Ti) ×2^40

Binary Coded Decimal (BCD)

-Binary representation where each positive denary digit is represented by a sequence of 4 bits
(nibble)

-Only certain digits are converted to BCD, because particular digits represent a digit greater
than 9.
Ex. 429 in BCD:
-Convert each digit to their binary equivalents 4 = 0100 | 2 = 0010 |9 = 1001
-Concatenate the 3 nibbles (4-bit group) to produce BCD: 0100 0010 1001
Practical applications
-A string of digits on any electronic device displaying numbers (eg. Calculators)

-Accurately measuring decimal fractions Electronically coding denary numbers

Two’s Complement
-Used to represent negative numbers
-We can represent a negative number in binary by making the most significant bit (MSB) a
sign bit, which indicates whether the number is positive or negative.
-Converting negative denary into binary (ex. -42)
-Find the binary equivalent of the denary number(ignoring the -ve sign) | 42 = 101010
-Add extra 0 bits before the MSB, to format binary number to 8 bits | 00101010

-Convert binary number to one’s complement (flip the bits) | 11010101

-Convert binary number to two’s complement (add 1)|1010101 + 1 = 11010110
Converting binary two’s complement into denary (ex. 11010110)
-Flip all the bits | 00101001 Add 1 | 00101010
-Convert binary to denary and put a –ve sign) | -42 Maximum positive number in 8 bits: 256

Maximum negative number in 8 bits: -128

Binary Addition and Subtraction

-Add or subtract the two numbers, divide the answer by 2(base)

-Write the remainder as the answer and carry the resulting value(not the remainder) after
division operation
-E.g adding 0and1 :
-0+1=1

-Then 1/2= 0 r 1
-Then we take 1 and carry 0
-So 0+1=0
Arithmetic errors
a. Overflow error
-Arithmetic error that occurs when the result obtained after performing a binary
operation like addition contains excess number of bits that can not be represented in
a register

Hexadecimal Systems

-Number system which represents numbers in base 16

-Possible digits: 0 to 9 and A to F, where A to F represent denary digits 10 to 15
Practical applications/ uses of Hexadecimal:
-Defining colours in HTML

-Defining Media Access Control (MAC) addresses Assembly languages and machine code
-Debugging via memory dumps
-IPV6 address
-E.g. A5 in Denary = (16×10) + (1×5) = 165
-E.g. 65 in Hexadecimal = 65÷16=4 Remainder 1∴ = 41

Character Sets
-A character set generally includes upper & lower case letters, number digits, punctuation
marks and other characters.

-Character sets use different binary representations for each character via character encoding
Character Encoding Standards:
ASCII Extended ASCII Unicode
ASCII’s extension - Also includes Superset for ASCII & extended ASCII -
Only English alphabets can mostEuropean languages’ recognized by various global languages
berepresented alphabets

Each character encoding ASCII extended to 8 bits, hence Greater range of characters, as it
takes up 256 uses 2 or 4 bytes per character.
7 bits, hence 128 possible possible characters.
characters
2 or 4 times morestorage space per
Smaller storage space.
character.

1.2. Multimedia
Bitmap Images
-Data for a bitmapped image is encoded by assigning a solid colour to each pixel, i.e., through
bit patterns.

-Bit patterns are generated by considering each row of the grid as a series of binary colour
codes which correspond to each pixel’s colour.
-These bit patterns are ‘mapped’ onto main memory
-Pixels: smallest picture element whose colour can be accurately represented by binary

-Bitmap image also contains the File Header which has the metadata contents of the bitmap
file, including image size, number of colours, etc.
-Image Resolution: Pixel density which is measured by no. of pixels/cm If image resolution
increases, then image is sharper/more detailed

-Screen Resolution: Number of pixels which can be viewed horizontally & vertically on the
device’s screen
-Number of pixels = width × height
E.g. 1680 × 1080 pixels
-Colour depth: number of bits used to represent the colour of a single pixel

-An image with n bits has 2n colours per pixel

-E.g. 16-colour bitmap has 4 bits per pixel ∵ 2^4 = 16
-Colour depth↑: colour quality↑ but file size↑ File Size = Number of Pixels × colour depth
-Convert bits to bytes by dividing by 8 if necessary. Applications: scanned images and general
computer usage ∵ small file size and can be easily manipulated.
-Vector Graphics

-Made up of drawing objects

-Drawing objects: a mathematically defined construct (of shapes like rectangle, line, circle,
etc.)
-Drawing list: set of commands defining the vector Properties of each object are the basic
geometric data which determine the shape and appearance.
-Data is encoded using mathematical formulas to generate properties in order to draw lines
& curves to create the image
-If object is resized, properties are recalculated.

∴ Scalable without losing quality unlike bitmaps Applications: company logos

Sound
-Analogue data is continuous electrical signals whereas digital data is discrete electrical
signals.

-Sound signals are vibrations through a medium.

-Hence are analogue in nature as there can be an infinite amount of detail for sound.
-Analogue signals converted (encoded) to digital signals by sampling:
-Sound wave’s amplitude (height) sampled at set time intervals

-These samples (amplitudes) are encoded as a binary number sequence

-This sequence provides a digital representation of the sound wave

Sampling Rate
-Number of samples taken per unit time Increasing the sampling rate increases accuracy of
digitized sound wave representation but increases the file size
Sampling Resolution

-Number of bits used to encode each sample

-Increasing sampling resolution increases accuracy of digitized sound wave but increases the
file size
-Bit Rate: no. of bits for storing 1 second of sound

-Bit Rate = Sampling Rate × Sampling Resolution

-File Size=Bit Rate * Length of Sound

1.1. Compression
-Compression is the process of reducing file size without a significant loss in quality which
results in:

• Reducing the time needed to search for data.

• Faster transfer of compressed files, which uses less bandwidth than uncompressed
files.
Lossless Compression
-Type of compression that allows original data to perfectly reconstructed from compressed
file when the file is opened by utilizing some form of replacement.

-Compress a file without resulting in loss of data, original state of the file is not changed
-E.g. bitmap (.bmp), vector graphic (.svg) and .png images, text file compression, database
records Run-length Encoding (RLE)
-Form of lossless compression which is used for compressing text files and bitmap images.
-Reduces file size of a sequence of elements which has adjacent, identical elements
(characters in text file and pixels in bitmap images).
-Repeating sequence of elements encoded in two values: run count and run value.
-E.g. RLE of bitmap image:

-We can represent the first row as a sequence of pixels: “W B B W W B B W” | W: white and
B: black

-After applying RLE: “W 2B 2W 2B W”.

-In ‘2B’ 2 is the run count and B is the run value, which represents a run of two adjacent black
pixels

-Process is repeated for other rows.

Lossy Compression
-Type of compression which irreversibly eliminates unnecessary data
-File accuracy/quality lower than that of lossless but file size is lower (~10% of lossless).

-E.g. Sound files (.mp3), .jpeg images

-Sound files compression (.mp3) utilizes Perceptual Coding to remove certain parts of sound
that are less audible/discernible to human hearing.