Chapter Two

Data Representation in Computers

Computer Data Representation
• We enter data into a computer or review (see) output data from a
computer using the letter of alphabet, various special symbols, and
the numerals in the decimal number system.
• But since computer is an electronic device, which understands
electrical flow (signal), there is no letter, symbol or number inside the
computer.
• Computer works with binary numbers.
Units of Data Representation
• BIT:
 Bits are the smallest units and can convey only two possible
states 0 or 1;
 Bit stands for Binary digits;
 A bit is a single element in the computer, on a disk that stands
for either “ON” indicating 1 or “OFF” indicating 0;
Units of Data Representation
• BYTE:
 is the basic “unit of data representation” in a computer system.
 Byte contains 8 bits.
 the total amount of data that can be represented using a single byte is 28 or
256 possible combinations.
 Each byte can represent a character (a letter, a number or a special symbol)
• 1 Kilobyte (1KB) is 210 or 1024 bytes
• 1 Megabyte (MB) is 220 bytes or 210 kilobytes
• 1 Gigabyte (GB) is 230 bytes or 220 kilobytes or 210 megabytes
• 1 Terabyte (TB) is 240 bytes
Units of Data Representation
• WORD:
• Word refers the number of bits that a computer process at a time or a
transmission media transmits at a time.
• A combination of bytes, then form a “word”.
• A word can contain one, two, three or four bytes based on the capacity
of the computer.
• We say that a computer is an 8-bit, a 16 bit, a 32 bit or a 64 bit
computer to indicate that the amount of data it can process at a time.
• The larger the word length a computer has the more powerful and
faster it is.
Concept of Number Systems
• A number system defines a set of values used to represent quantity.
• There are various number systems e.g. decimal, binary, octal,
hexadecimal, etc
• For a computer, everything is a number whether it may be numbers,
alphabets, punctuation marks, its own instructions, etc.
The Decimal Number System
(Base 10)
The primary number system used is a base ten number system or
decimal number system.
The Decimal number system is based on the ten different digits or
symbols (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9).

• For example: (8762)10 = (8*103) + (7*102) + (6*101) + (2*100)

The Binary number system
(Base 2)
• Computers do not use the ten digits of the decimal system for
counting and arithmetic.
• Binary number system is based on the two different digits; 0 and 1.
• Binary number system is base two number system.
• Computer represent data based on binary number system.

• For example: (01100)2 , (10110.011)2 , etc

• Octal number system (Base 8)
The octal number system with its eight symbols (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7) is a base 8 system.
For example: (322)8, (10.25)8, etc
• Hexadecimal number system (Base 16)
It uses 16 symbols (0-9, and A-F characters to represent 10-15).
For example: (8F0)16 , (D.45)16, etc
Conversion between Number
Systems
• Computers use binary numbers for internal data representation
whereas they use decimal numbers externally.
• Therefore, there should be some conversion between number
systems
Decimal to Binary
• It is important to note that every decimal number system has its
equivalent binary number.
• For example
Decimal to Binary
• Steps:
 Begin by dividing the decimal number by 2 (the base of binary
number system)
 Note (store) the remainder separately as the rightmost digit of
the binary equivalent
 Continually repeat the process of dividing by 2 until quotient is
zero and keep writing the remainders after each step of
division (these remainders will either be 0 or 1)
 Finally, when no more division can occur, write down the
remainders in reverse order (last remainder written first)
• Example: Determine the binary equivalent of (44)10

• 44)10 is (101100)2
Decimal to Octal and hexa
• In general to convert a decimal number X to a number in base M,
• divide X by M, store the remainder,
• again divide the quotient by M, store the remainder, and
• continue until the quotient is 0.
• And concatenate (collect) the remainders starting from the last up to the first.
• Example: Convert 7810 to base eight (Octal)
7810=1168
• Example: Convert 3010 to base sixteen (hexadecimal)
3010=1E16
Binary to Decimal
• In the binary to decimal conversion, each digit of the binary number is
multiplied by its weighted position, and
• each of the weighted values is added together to get the decimal
number.
• Example: Determine the decimal equivalent of (100100)2
• 1*25 + 0*24 + 0*23 + 1*22 + 0*21 +0*20 = 32+4 =36
• Therefore, the decimal equivalent of (100100)2 is 36
From base m (2,8,1nd 16) to
decimal
• In general To convert a number X consists of digits X1 X2 X3 …Xn in base
m to decimal; simply expand the number with base m.
• That is (X1X2X3…Xn) m =X1*mn-1+X2*mn-2 +X3*mn-3+...+ Xi*mn-i+… Xn-1m1+Xn*m0
=Y10
• Example: convert (234)8 to decimal
=2*82 + 3*81 + 4*80 = 128+24+4 = 156
• Example: convert (A1B) 16 to decimal
=A*162 + 1*161 + B*160 = 2587
Binary (base2) to Octal (base 8) or hexadecimal
(base16) and vice versa

• To convert a number in binary to octal group three binary digits

together starting from the last digit (right) and
• if there are no enough digits add zeros to the front end (left) and find
the corresponding Octal of each group.
• To convert binary to hexadecimal group four binary digits together
starting from right and
• if there are no enough digits add zeros at the left.
• To convert from Octal to binary, convert each octal digit to its equivalent 3 bit binary
starting from right.

• To convert from Hexadecimal to binary convert each hex. Digit to its equivalent 4-bit
binary starting from right.
Octal to hexadecimal and Vise
versa
• To convert from Octal to hexadecimal,
• First we have to convert to binary and
• Then the binary to hexadecimal.
To convert from hexadecimal to Octal, first we have to convert to
binary and then the binary to Octal.
Summary of conversion from One base
to another base
CODING METHODS
• the binary number system is used by the computer system to
represent the data in the computer in understandable format.
• There are a lot of ways to represent, numeric, alphabetic, and special
characters in computer’s internal storage area.
• Every character can be represented by a combination of bits that is
different from any other combination.
• There are different coding systems that convert one or more
character sets into computer codes.
• Some are: EBCDIC, BCD, ASCII-7 & ASCII-8, Unicode, etc.
EBCDIC
• Pronounced as “Eb-see-dick” and stands for Extended Binary Coded
Decimal Interchange Code.
• It is an 8-bit coding scheme: (00000000 – 11111111), i.e. it uses 8 bits
to represent each character.
• It accommodates to code 28 or 256 different characters.
• Since it is an 8-bit code, each group of the eight bits makes up one
alphabetic, numeric, or special character.
• It is a standard coding scheme for the large computers.
Example
BCD (Binary Coded Decimal)
• There were two types of BCD coding techniques used before.
• The 4 bit BCD, which represent any digit of decimal number by four
bits of binary numbers.
• If you want to represent 219 using 4 bit BCD you have to say 0010
0001 1001
BCD (Binary Coded Decimal)
• 4 bits BCD numbers are useful whenever decimal information is
transferred into or out of a digital system.
• Examples of BCD systems are electronic ousters, digital voltmeter, and
digital clocks; their circuits can work with BCD numbers.
• BCD’s are easy for conversion but slower for processing than binary.
• And they have limited numbers because with BCD we can represent
only numbers 0000 to 1111.
BCD (6-bits)
• It uses 6-bits to code a Character (2 for zone bit and 4 for digit bit)
• it can represent 26 = 64 characters (10 digits, 26 capital characters and
some other special characters).
ASCII-7
• ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange.
• ASCII-7 used widely before the introduction of ASCII-8 (the Extended
ASCII).
• It uses 7 bits to represent a character.
• With the seven bits, 27( or 128) different characters can be coded
(0000000-1111111).
• It has 3 zone and 4 digit bits positions
Example
The ASCII System
• Also referred as ASCII-8 or Extended ASCII.
• It is commonly used in the transmission of data through data
communication and is used almost exclusively to represent data
internally in microcomputers.
• ASCII uses 8-bits to represent alphanumeric characters (letters, digits
and special symbols).
• With the 8-bits, ASCII can represent 28 or 256 different characters
(00000000-11111111).
• It assigns 4 bits for the zone and the rest for the digit.
Example
ASCII table for alphabets
Unicode
• Unicode has started to replace ASCII and other coding methods at all levels.
• It enables users to handle not only practically any script and language used
on this planet;
• it also supports a comprehensive set of mathematical and technical
symbols to simplify scientific information exchange.
• Unicode provides a unique number for every character, no matter what the
platform, no matter what the program, no matter what the language.
• Unicode was originally designed to be a 16-bit code, but it was extended so
that currently code positions are expressed as integers in the hexadecimal
range 0..10FFFF (decimal 0..1 114 111).
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