Computer Fundamentals : Pradeep K.

Sinha & Priti Sinha

Number Systems

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Number Systems

Two types of number systems are:

 Positional number systems

 Non-positional number systems

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Non-positional Number Systems

Characteristics
 Use symbols such as I for 1, II for 2, III for 3, IIII
for 4, IIIII for 5, etc
 Each symbol represents the same value regardless
of its position in the number
 The symbols are simply added to find out the value
of a particular number

Difficulty
 It is difficult to perform arithmetic with such a
number system

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Positional Number Systems
 Characteristics

 Use only a few symbols called digits

 These symbols represent different values depending
on the position they occupy in the number

(Continued on next slide)

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Positional Number Systems
 The value of each digit is determined by:
1. The digit itself
2. The position of the digit in the number
3. The base of the number system

(base = total number of digits in the number

system)

 The maximum value of a single digit is always equal to

one less than the value of the base

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Decimal Number System

Characteristics
 A positional number system
 Has 10 symbols or digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
9). Hence, its base = 10
 The maximum value of a single digit is 9 (one less
than the value of the base)
 Each position of a digit represents a specific power
of the base (10)
 We use this number system in our day-to-day life

(Continued on next slide)

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Decimal Number System

Example

258610 = (2 x 103) + (5 x 102) + (8 x 101) + (6 x 100)

= 2000 + 500 + 80 + 6

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Binary Number System
Characteristics
 A positional number system
 Has only 2 symbols or digits (0 and 1). Hence its
base = 2
 The maximum value of a single digit is 1 (one less
than the value of the base)
 Each position of a digit represents a specific power
of the base (2)
 This number system is used in computers

(Continued on next slide)

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Binary Number System
Example

101012 = (1 x 24) + (0 x 23) + (1 x 22) + (0 x 21) x (1 x 20)

= 16 + 0 + 4 + 0 + 1

= 2110

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Representing Numbers in Different
Number Systems

In order to be specific about which number system we

are referring to, it is a common practice to indicate the
base as a subscript. Thus, we write:

101012 = 2110

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Bit

 Bit stands for binary digit

 A bit in computer terminology means either a 0 or a 1
 A binary number consisting of n bits is called an n-bit
number

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Octal Number System
Characteristics
 A positional number system
 Has total 8 symbols or digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).
Hence, its base = 8
 The maximum value of a single digit is 7 (one less
than the value of the base
 Each position of a digit represents a specific power of
the base (8)

(Continued on next slide)

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Octal Number System
 Since there are only 8 digits, 3 bits (23 = 8) are
sufficient to represent any octal number in binary

Example

20578 = (2 x 83) + (0 x 82) + (5 x 81) + (7 x 80)

= 1024 + 0 + 40 + 7

= 107110

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Hexadecimal Number System

Characteristics
 A positional number system
 Has total 16 symbols or digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F). Hence its base = 16
 The symbols A, B, C, D, E and F represent the
decimal values 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15
respectively
 The maximum value of a single digit is 15 (one less
than the value of the base)

(Continued on next slide)

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Hexadecimal Number System

 Each position of a digit represents a specific power

of the base (16)
 Since there are only 16 digits, 4 bits (24 = 16) are
sufficient to represent any hexadecimal number in
binary

Example
1AF16 = (1 x 162) + (A x 161) + (F x 160)
= 1 x 256 + 10 x 16 + 15 x 1
= 256 + 160 + 15
= 43110

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Converting a Number of Another Base to a
Decimal Number

Method

Step 1: Determine the column (positional) value of

each digit

Step 2: Multiply the obtained column values by the

digits in the corresponding columns

Step 3: Calculate the sum of these products

(Continued on next slide)

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Converting a Number of Another Base to a
Decimal Number

Example
47068 = ?10
Column values
multiplied
by the
47068 = 4 x 83 + 7 x 82 + 0 x 81 + 6 x 80 corresponding
digits
= 4 x 512 + 7 x 64 + 0 + 6 x 1
= 2048 + 448 + 0 + 6 Sum of these
products
= 250210

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Converting a Decimal Number to a Number
of Another Base

Division-Remainder Method
Step 1: Divide the decimal number to be converted by
the value of the new base

Step 2: Record the remainder from Step 1 as the

rightmost digit (least significant digit) of the
new base number

Step 3: Divide the quotient of the previous divide by the

new base

(Continued on next slide)

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Converting a Decimal Number to a Number
of Another Base

Step 4: Record the remainder from Step 3 as the next

digit (to the left) of the new base number

Repeat Steps 3 and 4, recording remainders from right to

left, until the quotient becomes zero in Step 3

Note that the last remainder thus obtained will be the most
significant digit (MSD) of the new base number

(Continued on next slide)

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Converting a Decimal Number to a Number
of Another Base

Example
95210 = ?8

Solution:
8 952 Remainders
119 0
14 7
1 6
0 1

Hence, 95210 = 16708

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Converting from a Base Other Than 10 to
Another Base Other Than 10

Method

Step 1: Convert the original number to a decimal

number (base 10)

Step 2: Convert the decimal number so obtained to

the new base number

(Continued on next slide)

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Converting from a Base Other Than 10 to
Another Base Other Than 10

Example
5456 = ?4

Solution:
Step 1: Convert from base 6 to base 10

5456 = 5 x 62 + 4 x 61 + 5 x 60
= 5 x 36 + 4 x 6 + 5 x 1
= 180 + 24 + 5
= 20910

(Continued on next slide)

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Converting from a Base Other Than 10 to
Another Base Other Than 10
Step 2: Convert 20910 to base 4

4 209 Remainders
52 1
13 0
3 1
0 3

Hence, 20910 = 31014

So, 5456 = 20910 = 31014

Thus, 5456 = 31014

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Shortcut Method for Converting a Binary
Number to its Equivalent Octal Number

Method
Step 1: Divide the digits into groups of three starting
from the right

Step 2: Convert each group of three binary digits to

one octal digit using the method of binary to
decimal conversion

(Continued on next slide)

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Shortcut Method for Converting a Binary Number to its
Equivalent Octal Number

Example
1011102 = ?8

Step 1: Divide the binary digits into groups of 3 starting

from right

101 110

Step 2: Convert each group into one octal digit

1012 = 1 x 22 + 0 x 21 + 1 x 20 = 5
1102 = 1 x 22 + 1 x 21 + 0 x 20 = 6

Hence, 1011102 = 568

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Shortcut Method for Converting a Binary
Number to its Equivalent Octal Number

Example
11010102 = ?8

Step 1: Divide the binary digits into groups of 3 starting

from right

001 101 010

Step 2: Convert each group into one octal digit

0012 = 0 x 22 + 0 x 21 + 1 x 20 = 1
1012 = 1 x 22 + 0 x 21 + 1 x 20 = 5
0102 = 0 x 22 + 1 x 21 + 0 x 20 = 2

Hence, 11010102 = 1528

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Shortcut Method for Converting an Octal
Number to Its Equivalent Binary Number

Method
Step 1: Convert each octal digit to a 3 digit binary
number (the octal digits may be treated as
decimal for this conversion)

Step 2: Combine all the resulting binary groups

(of 3 digits each) into a single binary
number

(Continued on next slide)

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Shortcut Method for Converting an Octal
Number to Its Equivalent Binary Number

Example
5628 = ?2

Step 1: Convert each octal digit to 3 binary digits

58 = 1012, 68 = 1102, 28 = 0102

Step 2: Combine the binary groups

5628 = 101 110 010
5 6 2

Hence, 5628 = 1011100102

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Shortcut Method for Converting a Binary
Number to its Equivalent Hexadecimal Number

Method

Step 1: Divide the binary digits into groups of four

starting from the right

Step 2: Combine each group of four binary digits to

one hexadecimal digit

(Continued on next slide)

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Shortcut Method for Converting a Binary
Number to its Equivalent Hexadecimal Number

Example

1111012 = ?16

Step 1: Divide the binary digits into groups of four

starting from the right

0011 1101

Step 2: Convert each group into a hexadecimal digit

00112 = 0 x 23 + 0 x 22 + 1 x 21 + 1 x 20 = 310 = 316
11012 = 1 x 23 + 1 x 22 + 0 x 21 + 1 x 20 = 310 = D16

Hence, 1111012 = 3D16

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Shortcut Method for Converting a Hexadecimal
Number to its Equivalent Binary Number

Method
Step 1: Convert the decimal equivalent of each
hexadecimal digit to a 4 digit binary
number

Step 2: Combine all the resulting binary groups

(of 4 digits each) in a single binary number

(Continued on next slide)

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Shortcut Method for Converting a Hexadecimal
Number to its Equivalent Binary Number

Example

2AB16 = ?2

Step 1: Convert each hexadecimal digit to a 4 digit

binary number

216 = 210 = 00102

A16 = 1010 = 10102
B16 = 1110 = 10112
Shortcut Method for Converting a Hexadecimal
Number to its Equivalent Binary Number

Step 2: Combine the binary groups

2AB16 = 0010 1010 1011
2 A B

Hence, 2AB16 = 0010101010112

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 Computer Fundamentals : Pradeep K. Sinha & Priti Sinha

Fractional Numbers

Chapter 03: Number Systems Slide 37/43

Fractional Numbers
Fractional numbers are formed same way as decimal
number system
In general, a number in a number system with base b
would be written as:
an an-1… a0 . a-1 a-2 … a-m

And would be interpreted to mean:

an x bn + an-1 x bn-1 + … + a0 x b0 + a-1 x b-1 + a-2 x b-2 +
… + a-m x b-m

The symbols an, an-1, …, a-m in above representation

should be one of the b symbols allowed in the number
system

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Fractional Numbers

In the decimal number system.

Decimal system
0.235 = (2x10-1) + (2x10-2) + (2x10-3)
68.53 = (6x101) + (8x100) + (5x10-1) + (3x10-2)

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Fractional Numbers

In the binary number system, fractional numbers are framed in

the same way as in the decimal number system.

Binary system
0.101 = (1x2-1) + (0x2-2) + (1x2-3)
10.01 = (1x21) + (0x20) + (0x2-1) + (1x2-2)

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Formation of Fractional Numbers in
Binary Number System (Example)

Binary Point

Position 4 3 2 1 0 . -1 -2 -3 -4

Position Value 24 23 22 21 20 2-1 2-2 2-3 2-4

Quantity 16 8 4 2 1 1/ 1/ 1/ 1/
2 4 8 16
Represented

(Continued on next slide)

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Decimal equivalent of Binary Number System
(Example)

Example

110.1012 = 1 x 22 + 1 x 21 + 0 x 20 + 1 x 2-1 + 0 x 2-2 + 1 x 2-3

= 4 + 2 + 0 + 0.5 + 0 + 0.125
= 6.62510

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Formation of Fractional Numbers in
Octal Number System (Example)

Octal Point

Position 3 2 1 0 . -1 -2 -3

Position Value 83 82 81 80 8-1 8-2 8-3

Quantity 512 64 8 1 1/ 1/ 1/
8 64 512
Represented

(Continued on next slide)

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Decimal equivalent of Octal Number System
(Example)

Example

127.548 = 1 x 82 + 2 x 81 + 7 x 80 + 5 x 8-1 + 4 x 8-2

= 64 + 16 + 7 + 5/8 + 4/64
= 87 + 0.625 + 0.0625
= 87.687510

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Decimal equivalent of hexadecimal System
(Example)

Example

2B.C416 = 2x161+Bx160+C/16 +4/256

= 32+11+0.75+0.015625

= 43.76565210

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Key Words/Phrases

 Base  Least Significant Digit (LSD)

 Binary number system  Memory dump

 Binary point  Most Significant Digit (MSD)

 Bit  Non-positional number

system
 Decimal number system
 Number system
 Division-Remainder technique
 Octal number system
 Fractional numbers
 Positional number system
 Hexadecimal number system