Computer Organization and Architecture

Designing for Performance

11th Edition

Chapter 10
Number Systems

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The Decimal System
• System based on decimal digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) to
represent numbers
• For example the number 83 means eight tens plus three:
83 = (8 * 10) + 3
• The number 4728 means four thousands, seven hundreds, two tens,
plus eight:
4728 = (4 * 1000) + (7 * 100) + (2 * 10) + 8
• The decimal system is said to have a base, or radix, of 10. This
means that each digit in the number is multiplied by 10 raised to a
power corresponding to that digit’s position:
83 = (8 * 101) + (3 * 100)
4728 = (4 * 103) + (7 * 102) + (2 * 101) + (8 * 100)

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Decimal Fractions
• The same principle holds for decimal fractions, but negative powers
of 10 are used. Thus, the decimal fraction 0.256 stands for 2 tenths
plus 5 hundredths plus 6 thousandths:
0.256 = (2 * 10-1) + (5 * 10-2) + (6 * 10-3)
• A number with both an integer and fractional part has digits raised to
both positive and negative powers of 10:
442.256 = (4 * 102) + (4 + 101) + (2 * 100) + (2 * 10-1) + (5 * 10-2)
+ (6 * 10-3)
• Most significant digit
– The leftmost digit (carries the highest value)

• Least significant digit

– The rightmost digit

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Table 10.1
Positional Interpretation of a Decimal
Number

4 7 2 2 5 6

100s 10s 1s tenths hundredths thousandths

102 101 100 10-1 10-2 10-3

position 2 position 1 position 0 position –1 position –2 position –3

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Positional Number Systems
• Each number is represented by a string of digits in which
each digit position i has an associated weight ri, where r
is the radix, or base, of the number system.
• The general form of a number in such a system with
radix r is
( . . . a3a2a1a0.a-1a-2a-3 . . . )r
where the value of any digit ai is an integer in the range
0 < ai < r. The dot between a0 and a-1 is called the radix
point.

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Table 10.2
Positional Interpretation of a Number in
Base 7

Position 4 3 2 1 0 –1

Value in Exponential Form 74 73 72 71 70 7–1

Decimal Value 2401 343 49 7 1 1/7

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The Binary System
• Only two digits, 1 and 0
• Represented to the base 2
• The digits 1 and 0 in binary notation have the same meaning as in decimal notation:
02 = 010
12 = 110
• To represent larger numbers each digit in a binary number has a value depending on its
position:
102 = (1 * 21) + (0 * 20) = 210
112 = (1 * 21) + (1 * 20) = 310
1002 = (1 * 22) + (0 * 21) + (0 * 20) = 410
and so on. Again, fractional values are represented with negative powers of the radix:
1001.101 = 23 + 20 + 2-1 + 2-3 = 9.62510

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Converting Between Binary and Decimal
• Binary notation to decimal notation:
– Multiply each binary digit by the appropriate power of 2 and add the
results

• Decimal notation to binary notation:

– Integer and fractional parts are handled separately

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Integers 1/2
For the integer part, recall that in binary notation, an integer represented by
bm-1bm-2 . . . b2b1b0 bi = 0 or 1

has the value

(bm-1 * 2m-1) + (bm-2 * 2 m-2) + . . . + (b1 * 21) + b0
Suppose it is required to convert a decimal integer N into binary form. If we divide N by 2, in the
decimal system, and obtain a quotient N1 and a remainder R0, we may write

N = 2 * N1 + R0 R0 = 0 or 1
Next, we divide the quotient N1 by 2. Assume that the new quotient is N2 and the new
remainder R1. Then
N1 = 2 * N 2 + R1 R1 = 0 or 1
so that
N = 2(2N2 + R1) + R0 = (N2 * 22) + (R1 * 21) + R0
If next
N2 = 2N3 + R2
we have
N = (N3 * 23) + (R2 * 22) + (R1 * 21) + R0

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Integers 2/2

• Because N >N1 > N2 . . . , continuing this sequence will eventually produce a

quotient Nm-1 = 1 (except for the decimal integers 0 and 1, whose binary
equivalents are 0 and 1, respectively) and a remainder Rm-2, which is 0 or 1.
Then

• N = (1 * 2m-1) + (Rm-2 * 2m-2) + . . . + (R2 * 22) + (R1 * 21) + R0

• which is the binary form of N. Hence, we convert from base 10 to base 2 by

repeated divisions by 2. The remainders and the final quotient, 1, give us, in
order of increasing significance, the binary digits of N.

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Figure 10.1
Examples of Converting from Decimal
Notation to Binary Notation for Integers
Quotient Remainder
11 = 5 1
2

5 = 2 1
2

2 = 1 0
2

1 = 0 1
2
10112 = 1110

(a) 1110

Quotient Remainder
21 = 10 1
2

10 = 5 0
2

5 = 2 1
2

2 = 1 0
2

1 = 0 1
2
101012 = 2110

(b) 2110

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Figure 10.1 Examples of Converting from Decimal
Notation to Binary Notation for Integers
Fractions (1 of 2)
For the fractional part, recall that in binary notation, a number with a
value between 0 and 1 is represented by
0.b-1b-2b-3 . . . bi = 0 or 1
and has the value
(b-1 * 2-1) + (b-2 * 2-2) + (b-3 * 2-3) . . .
This can be rewritten as
2-1 * (b-1 + 2-1 * (b-2 + 2-1 * (b-3 + . . . ) . . . ))
Suppose we want to convert the number F (0 < F < 1) from
decimal to binary notation. We
know that F can be expressed in the form
F = 2-1 * (b-1 + 2-1 * (b-2 + 2-1 * (b-3 + . . . ) . . . ))
If we multiply F by 2, we obtain,
2 * F = b-1 + 2-1 * (b-2 + 2-1 * (b-3 + . . . ) . . . )
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Fractions (2 of 2)
From this equation, we see that the integer part of (2
* F), which must be either 0 or 1 because 0 < F < 1,
is simply b-1. So we can say (2 * F) = b-1 + F1, where
0 < F1 < 1 and where

F1 = 2-1 * (b-2 + 2-1 * (b-3 + 2-1 * (b-4 + . . . ) . . . ))

To find b−2, we repeat the process.

At each step, the fractional part of the number from
the previous step is multiplied by 2. The digit to the
left of the decimal point in the product will be 0 or 1
and contributes to the binary representation, starting
with the most significant digit. The fractional part of
the product is used as the multiplicand in the next
step.
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Figure 10.2
Examples of Converting from Decimal
Notation to Binary Notation for Fractions
Product Integer Part 0.1100112
0.81 2 = 1.62 1

0.62 2 = 1.24 1

0.24 2 = 0.48 0

0.48 2 = 0.96 0

0.96 2 = 1.92 1

0.92 2 = 1.84 1

(a) 0.8110 = 0.1100112 (approximately)

Product Integer Part 0.012

0.25 2 = 0.5 0

0.5 2 = 1.0 1

(b) 0.2510 = 0.012 (exactly)

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Hexadecimal Notation 1/2
• Binary digits are grouped into sets of four bits, called a nibble

• Each possible combination of four binary digits is given a symbol, as follows:

0000 = 0 0100 = 4 1000 = 8 1100 = C

0001 = 1 0101 = 5 1001 = 9 1101 = D
0010 = 2 0110 = 6 1010 = A 1110 = E
0011 = 3 0111 = 7 1011 = B 1111 = F

• Because 16 symbols are used, the notation is called hexadecimal and the 16
symbols are the hexadecimal digits
• Thus
2C16 = (216 * 161) + (C16 * 160)
= (210 * 161) + (1210 * 160) = 44

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Table 10.3 Decimal (base 10)
0
Binary (base 2)
0000
Hexadecimal (base 16)
0

Decimal, Binary, 1
2
0001
0010
1
2

and Hexadecimal 3
4
0011
0100
3
4
5 0101 5
6 0110 6
7 0111 7
8 1000 8
9 1001 9
10 1010 A
11 1011 B
12 1100 C
13 1101 D
14 1110 E
15 1111 F
16 0001 0000 10
17 0001 0001 11
18 0001 0010 12
31 0001 1111 1F
100 0110 0100 64
255 1111 1111 FF
256 0001 0000 0000 100

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 Hexadecimal Notation 2/2

Not only used for

representing integers but
also as a concise notation
for representing any Reasons for using
sequence of binary digits hexadecimal notation
are:

In most computers,
binary data occupy some It is extremely easy to
It is more compact than
multiple of 4 bits, and convert between binary
binary notation
hence some multiple of a and hexadecimal notation
single hexadecimal digit

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Summary
Number Systems
Chapter 10
• Converting between
• The decimal system binary and decimal
• Positional number – Integers
– Fractions
systems
• The binary system • Hexadecimal notation

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