Binary and Hex.ppt

Binary and Hex How to count like a computer Why Binary? The basic unit of storage in a computer is the bit (binary digit), which can have one of just two values: 0 or 1. This is easier to implement in hardware than a unit that can take on 10 different values. For instance, it can be represented by a transistor being off (0) or on (1). Alternatively, it can be a magnetic stripe that is magnetized with North in one direction (0) or the opposite (1). Binary also has a convenient and natural association with logical values of False (0) and True (1). Building on Binary Binary bits are grouped together to allow them to represent more information: A nybble is a group of 4 bits, e.g. 1011 A byte is a group of 8 bits, e.g.A word is a larger grouping: usually 32 bits. A halfword is half as many bits as a word, thus usually 16 bits. A doubleword is twice as many bits, usually 64 bits. However, computers have been designed with various word sizes, such as 36, 48, or 60 bits. Clearly, the number of possible combinations of a group of N bits is 2N = 2x2x2 … x2 (N 2s). Thus: A nybble can form 24=16 combinations A byte can form 28=256 combinations A 32-bit word can form 232=4,294,967,296 combinations Building on Binary Each combination of a group of bits can be assigned a symbolic meaning. For instance, bytes can be used to represent text by associating each byte value with a character. For example, the ISO-8859-1 character encoding (an extension of the older ASCII code) assigns the valueto mean a period (‘.’),to mean capital ‘A’, and so on. It is also possible to represent numbers using binary. The binary numbering system is like the decimal system, except that the only two digits used are 0 and 1, and digits are multiplied by powers of 2 instead of 10. Decimal and Binary Numbers Binary Numbers Binary and Hexadecimal Because binary numbers are rather unwieldy, programmers prefer to use a more compact way to represent them. Historically, octal