Primitive data types,

OCR binary and

A Level hexadecimal
Unit 6
Computer Science
Data types
H446 – Paper 1

1
Objectives
• List and define primitive data types
• Represent positive integers in binary and
hexadecimal
• Convert between binary, hexadecimal and denary
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

Primitive data types

• A primitive data type is one which is provided by a
programming language
• They include:
• integer a whole number such as 34, 0, -1, 567432
• real/float a number with a fractional part such as:
3.142, 7.0, -67.5
• Usually, a composite data type such as an array is
not considered to be a primitive data type
• Can you think of some more primitive data types?
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

Primitive data types

• A primitive data type is one which is provided by a
programming language
• They include:
• integer a whole number such as 34, 0, -1, 567432
• real/float a number with a fractional part such as
3.142, -67.5
• Boolean can only take the value True or False
• character a letter, number or special symbol such as
“a”, “A”, “6”, “&”, %”
• string anything enclosed in quote marks, for example
“Jason”, “01798 158794”, “This is a string”
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

How are different data types

held?
• All data types are held in binary
• Without knowing what the data type is, it is not
possible to say what a particular bit pattern
represents
00101000 111110001 01010111 00100100
• This could be one integer, 4 integers, a real number,
a string, 4 characters,…
• or even a sound, a pixel or a tiny piece of a graphic
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

Binary number system

• The binary number system uses only two digits,
0 and 1
• To understand how this works, it is helpful to look
first at the fundamentals of the denary or decimal
system, which uses digits 0..9
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

Number symbols
• The denary number system uses a combination of
just ten symbols to represent any number
• Number systems are referred to by their base; that
is, the number of symbols used to construct values
• Denary is base 10 and the base may be referred to
as a subscript
• In denary the number 11, for example, may be written as 1110
• In binary, it would be written as 112 and in hexadecimal as
1116
• 1110, 112 and 1116 all represent different values
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

Base 2
• Numbers which use base 2 Denary Binary
are commonly referred to as 1 1
2 10
binary numbers
3 11
• Can you see a pattern in the 4 100
binary values? 5 101
6 110
7 111
8 1000
9 1001
10 1010
11 1011
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

Place value
• In any counting system, the position of the value
determines its contribution to the overall total

Baseposition 102 101 100

Place value 100 10 1

Number 1 8 3

Digit value 100x1 10x8 1x3

• Therefore 18310 represents the value of

one hundred, eight tens and three units
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

The binary system

• Binary works the same way, except the base used is
2 instead of 10

Baseposition 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
Place value 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
Number 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1
Digit value 128x1 0 32x1 16x1 0 4x1 2x1 1x1

• Therefore 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 12 represents
128 + 32 + 16 + 4 + 2 + 1 which is equivalent to 18310
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

Converting from denary

• The place value table is useful to aid conversion
from denary to binary
• Convert 15910 to binary

Place value 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

Number 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1

1. Can 128 2. If it can, 3. If value used 4. Repeat

be used to use it by subtract from using value
make some setting bit starting value, from step 3
of 159? value to 1, eg. 159 – 128 = until nothing
(0 if not) 31 left
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

Activity
• Complete Task 1 in Worksheet 1
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

Hexadecimal – Base 16
• Number systems with bases above 10 often still use
0 to 9 but require extra symbols for values past 9
• An example of this is base 16 which is referred to as
the hexadecimal number system
• Hexadecimal uses letters for the values 10 to 15

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ABCDEF
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

Hexadecimal values
• The rules of place value work in the same way:

Baseposition 162 161 160

Place value 256 16 1
Number 3 F (or 15) 5
Digit value 256 x 3 16 x 15 1x5

• Therefore the equivalent of 3F516 in denary is

(256x3) + (16x15) + 5 = 768 + 240 + 5 = 101310
• What is A316 in denary?
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

Denary to hex conversion

• Converting to two-digit hexadecimal numbers
• Divide the number by 16, and add the remainder

43 ÷ 16 = 2 remainder 11
11 = B
= 2B

• What is 2710 in hexadecimal?

Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

Significant powers
• Work out the following powers of 2:

20 =
21 =
22 =
23 =
24 =
• Why is the answer to 24 significant?
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

Significant powers
• Work out the following powers of 2:

20 = 1
21 = 2
22 = 4
23 = 8
24 = 16
• Why is the answer to 24 significant?
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

Significance of 16
• 16 is the fourth power of 2
• This means that base 16 numbers can be translated
from 4 consecutive bits of a binary value
• This makes it simple to translate binary numbers into
hexadecimal values and back again
8 4 2 1 8 4 2 1

216 = 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0
= D 8
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

Hex colour codes

• The hex code for this colour is 36 4D B2

• What does this mean?
• How can you increase the amount of red,
using the hex code?
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

Activity
• Complete Task 2 on Worksheet 1
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

Why use hex?

• A hexadecimal value is much easier to read and
remember than a string of binary digits
• It is quicker to write or type, since a hex digit takes
up only one character, not four
• There is less chance of making an error when typing
hex characters than a string of 1s and 0s
• It is used to define colours, in MAC addresses, in
assembly languages and machine code
• It is very easy to convert to and from binary
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

Plenary
• Denary numbers are easy to understand but they
are not easy to use in electronics
• Binary is simple to use with circuitry but is difficult to
read by humans
• Hexadecimal makes binary easier to read and easier
to transcribe (copy) accurately
Primitive data types, binary and hexadecimal
Unit 6 Data Types

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