BCD or Binary Coded Decimal is that number

system or code which has the binary numbers or

digits to represent a decimal number.
A decimal number contains 10 digits (0-9). Now the
equivalent binary numbers can be found out of these
10 decimal numbers. In case of BCD the binary
number formed by four binary digits, will be the
equivalent code for the given decimal digits. In BCD
we can use the binary number from 0000-1001 only,
which are the decimal equivalent from 0-9
respectively. Suppose if a number have single
decimal digit then it’s equivalent Binary Coded
Decimal will be the respective four binary digits of
that decimal number and if the number contains two
decimal digits then it’s equivalent BCD will be the
respective eight binary of the given decimal number.
Four for the first decimal digit and next four for the
second decimal digit. It may be cleared from an
example.
Let, (12)10 be the decimal number whose equivalent
Binary coded decimal will be 00010010. Four bits
from L.S.B is binary equivalent of 2 and next four is
the binary equivalent of 1.
Table given below shows the binary and BCD codes
for the decimal numbers 0 to 15.
From the table below, we can conclude that after 9
the decimal equivalent binary number is of four bit
but in case of BCD it is an eight bit number. This is
the main difference between Binary number and
binary coded decimal. For 0 to 9 decimal numbers
both binary and BCD is equal but when decimal
number is more than one bit BCD differs from binary.
Decimal number Binary number Binary Coded Decimal(BCD)

0 0000 0000

1 0001 0001

2 0010 0010

3 0011 0011

4 0100 0100

5 0101 0101

6 0110 0110

7 0111 0111

8 1000 1000

9 1001 1001

10 1010 0001 0000

11 1011 0001 0001

12 1100 0001 0010

13 1101 0001 0011

14 1110 0001 0100

15 1111 0001 0101

BCD Addition
Like other number system in BCD arithmetical
operation may be required. BCD is a numerical code
which has several rules for addition. The rules are
given below in three steps with an example to make
the idea of BCD Addition clear.
 1. At first the given number are to be added using
the rule of binary. For example,

2. In second step we have to judge the result of

addition. Here two cases are shown to describe
the rules of BCD Addition. In case 1 the result
of addition of two binary number is greater than
9, which is not valid for BCD number. But the
result of addition in case 2 is less than 9, which is
valid for BCD numbers.
3. If the four bit result of addition is greater than 9
and if a carry bit is present in the result then it is
invalid and we have to add 6 whose binary
equivalent is (0110)2 to the result of addition.
Then the resultant that we would get will be a
valid binary coded number. In case 1 the result
was (1111)2, which is greater than 9 so we have
to add 6 or (0110)2 to it.

As you can see the result is valid in BCD.

But in case 2 the result was already valid BCD, so
there is no need to add 6. This is how BCD Addition
could be.
Now a question may arrive that why 6 is being added
to the addition result in case BCD Addition instead of
any other numbers. It is done to skip the six invalid
states of binary coded decimal i.e from 10 to 15 and
again return to the BCD codes.
Now the idea of BCD Addition can be cleared from
two more examples.
Example:1
Let, 0101 is added with 0110.

Check your self.

Example:2
Now let 0001 0011 is added to 0010 0110.

So no need to add 6 as because both

are less than (9)10. This is the
process of BCD Addition.
BCD Subtraction
There are several methods of BCD Subtraction.
BCD subtraction can be done by 1’s compliment
method and 9’s compliment method or 10’s
compliment method. Among all these methods 9’s
compliment method or 10’s compliment method is the
most easiest. We will clear our idea on both the
methods of BCD Subtraction.
Method of BCD Subtraction : 1
In 1st method we will do BCD Subtraction by 1’s
compliment method. There are several steps for this
method shown below. They are:-
1. At first 1’s compliment of the subtrahend is done.
2. Then the complimented subtrahend is added to
the other number from which the subtraction is
to be done. This is called adder 1.
3. Now in BCD Subtraction there is a term
‘EAC(end-around-carry)’. If there is a carry i.e if
EAC = 1 the result of the subtraction is +ve and
if EAC = 0 then the result is –ve. A table shown
below gives the rules of EAC.
carry of individual
EAC = 1 EAC = 0
groups

Transfer real result of adder 1 and add 0000 Transfer 1’s compliment resu
1
in adder 2 1010 in adder 2

Transfer real result of adder 1 and add 1010 Transfer 1’s compliment resu
0
in adder 2 0000 to adder 2

4. In the final result if any carry bit occurs the it will

be ignored.
Examples given below would make the idea clear of
BCD Subtraction.
Example: – 1
In this example 0010 0001 0110 is subtracted from
0101 0100 0001.
 At first 1’s compliment of the subtrahend is done,
which is 1101 1110 1001 and is added to 0101
0100 0001. This step is called adder 1.
 Now after addition if any carry occurs then it will
be added to the next group of numbers towards
MSB. Then EAC will be examined. Here, EAC =
1. So the result of addition is positive and true
result of adder 1 will be transferred to adder 2.
 Now notice from LSB. There are three groups of
four bit numbers. 1010 is added 1011 which is
the first group of numbers because it do not have
any carry. The result of the addition is the final
answer.
 Carry 1 will be ignored as it is from the rule.
 Now move to the next group of numbers. 0000 is
added to 0010 and gives the result 0010. It is the
final result again.
 Now again move to the next group here 0000 is
also added to 0011 to give the final result 0011.
 You may have noticed that in this two groups
0000 is added, because result of first adder do
not contain any carry. Thus the results of the
adder 2 is the final result of BCD Subtraction.
Therefore,
Now you can check yourself.

We know that 541 − 216 = 325, Thus we can say that

our result of BCD Subtraction is correct.
Example: – 2
In this example let 0101 0001 be subtracted from
0100 1001.
 As per rule firstly 1’s compliment of the
subtrahend is done. Then the addition is done
and the result is checked. Here EAC = 0, so the
overall result will be –ve.
 Now see the result of adder 1 from LSB. 1’s
compliment value of 0111 is transferred to adder
2 and it is added with 1010 since no carry is
 added with it as per the rule. The answer is the
final result.
 Now move to the next result of adder 1 i.e 1110.
Here 1 is added to it which is the carry of the
previous result. Then it’ value is 1’s
complimented i.e 0000 and it is added to 0000.
Result of adder 2 is the final result. This is the
final result of BCD Subtraction.

 Now you can again check yourself. Decimal

equivalent of the given numbers of subtraction is
49 and 51. Therefore 49 -51 = -2. So our result is
correct.

Method of BCD Subtraction: 2

In 2nd method we will do BCD subtraction in 9’s
compliment method.
  Here the method is very simple. At first the
decimal equivalent of the given Binary Coded
Decimal (BCD) codes are found out.
 Then the 9’s compliment of the subtrahend is
done and then that result is added to the number
from which the subtraction is to be done.
 If there is any carry bit then the carry bit may be
added to the result of the subtraction.
Idea may be cleared from an example given below.
Let (0101 0001) − (0010 0001) be the given
subtraction.

 As we can see 51 and 21 are the decimal value of

the given BCD codes. Then the 9’s compliment of
the subtrahend is done i.e 99 − 21 = 78.
 This complimented value is added with the 51. i.e
51 + 78 = 129.
 In this result the MSB i.e 1 is the carry. This
carry will be added to 29. Therefore 29 + 1 = 30,
which is the final answer of BCD Subtraction.
 The decimal result will be changed
into BCD codes to get the result in BCD.
Therefore from the example we can conclude the
final result of BCD Subtraction i.e
Binary Coded Decimal Subtraction using 10’s
compliment is same as in case of 9’s compliment,
here the only difference is that instead of 9’s
compliment we have to do 10’s compliment of the
subtrahend.

BCD Comversion
BCD conversion is very simple. In case of BCD
conversion at first the decimal equivalent of the BCD
codes are found out and then that decimal number
can be changed to any other number system as
required. To know the methods of conversion of
number system you may read the topic binary
number system.
binary coded decimal

Posted by: Margaret Rouse

WhatIs.com

Contributor(s): Stan Gibilisco

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Binary coded decimal (BCD) is a system of writing numerals

that assigns a four-digit binary code to each digit 0 through 9
in a decimal (base-10) numeral. The four-bit BCD code for
any particular single base-10 digit is its representation in
binary notation, as follows:
0 = 0000
1 = 0001
2 = 0010
3 = 0011
4 = 0100
5 = 0101
6 = 0110
7 = 0111
8 = 1000
9 = 1001

Numbers larger than 9, having two or more digits in the

decimal system, are expressed digit by digit. For example, the
BCD rendition of the base-10 number 1895 is

0001 1000 1001 0101

The binary equivalents of 1, 8, 9, and 5, always in a four-digit

format, go from left to right.

The BCD representation of a number is not the same, in

general, as its simple binary representation. In binary form, for
example, the decimal quantity 1895 appears as

11101100111

Other bit patterns are sometimes used in BCD format to

represent special characters relevant to a particular system,
such as sign (positive or negative), error condition, or overflow
condition.

The BCD system offers relative ease of conversion between

machine-readable and human-readable numerals. As
compared to the simple binary system, however, BCD
increases the circuit complexity. The BCD system is not as
widely used today as it was a few decades ago, although
some systems still employ BCD in financial applications.

This was last updated in August 2012