BACSE103 Computation Structures

Lecture 2: Number Systems

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Complements of numbers
• Complement operations are run on a single number in any given base
• Complements are used in digital computers to simplify the
subtraction operation and for logical manipulation
• Simplifying operations leads to simpler, less expensive circuits to
implement the operations
• There are two types of complements for each base‐r system:
1. The radix complement [r’s complement] – called the 10’s
complement in decimal, 2’s complement in binary and so on
2. The diminished radix complement [(r-1)’s complement] – called the
9’s complement in decimal, 1’s complement in binary and so on

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Diminished radix complement
• Given a number N in base r having n digits, the (r - 1)’s complement of
N , i.e., its diminished radix complement, is defined as 𝑟 𝑛 − 1 − 𝑁
• For decimal numbers, the 9’s complement of N is 10𝑛 − 1 − 𝑁
• In this case, 10𝑛 − 1 is a number represented by n 9s
• For example, if n = 4, we have 104 = 10,000 and 104 - 1 = 9999
• It follows that the 9’s complement of a decimal number is obtained by
subtracting each digit from 9
• Examples:
• 1242
• 9981

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Diminished radix complement
• For binary numbers, the 1’s complement of N is (2𝑛 −1) − 𝑁.
• Again, (2n – 1) is a binary number represented by n 1s
• For example, if n = 4, we have 24 = (10000)2 and 24 - 1 = (1111)2. Thus, the 1’s
complement of a binary number is obtained by subtracting each digit from 1
• However, when subtracting binary digits from 1, we can have either 1 - 0 = 1 or 1 -
1 = 0, which causes the bit to change from 0 to 1 or from 1 to 0, respectively
• Therefore, the 1’s complement of a binary number is formed by changing 1’s to
0’s and 0’s to 1’s.
• Examples:
• 11100101
• 10000

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Radix complement
• The r’s complement of an n‐digit number N in base r is defined as 𝑟 𝑛 − 𝑁
for 𝑁 ≠ 0 and as 0 for 𝑁 = 0
• Comparing with the (r - 1)’s complement, we note that the𝑛r’s complement
is obtained by adding 1 to the (r - 1)’s complement, since 𝑟 − 𝑁 = [(𝑟 𝑛 −
1) − 𝑁] + 1
• Thus, the 10’s complement of decimal 2389 is 7610 + 1 = 7611 and is
obtained by adding 1 to the 9’s complement value
• The 2’s complement of binary 101100 is 010011 + 1 = 010100 and is
obtained by adding 1 to the 1’s‐complement value
• Examples:
• (66772)10
• (10011)2

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Subtraction with Radix complements
• The usual method of borrowing taught in elementary school for subtraction is
less efficient when subtraction is implemented with digital hardware
• Lets assume we have to perform M-N in base r
• Here is the algorithm using Radix complement:
1. Take radix complement of N: 𝑟 𝑛 − 𝑁
2. Add this to M: 𝑟 𝑛 − 𝑁 + 𝑀 = 𝑟 𝑛 + 𝑀 − 𝑁 = 𝑟 𝑛 − (𝑁 − 𝑀)
3. If you get a carry in the (n+1)th digit, then the result is positive, discard the carry and you
are done
4. If you do not get a carry in the (n+1)th digit, then the result is negative. Take the radix
complement of the number to get the answer, then put a negative sign
• 10’s complement subtraction:
• (9812)10 – (3142)10
• (1423)10 – (7336)10

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Subtraction with Diminished radix
complements
• The usual method of borrowing taught in elementary school for
subtraction is less efficient when subtraction is implemented with digital
hardware
• Lets assume we have to perform M-N in base r
• Here is the algorithm using Diminished radix complement:
1. Take diminished radix complement of N: 𝑟 𝑛 − 1 − 𝑁
2. Add this to M: 𝑟 𝑛 − 1 − 𝑁 + 𝑀 = 𝑟 𝑛 + 𝑀 − 𝑁 − 1 = (𝑟 𝑛 − 1) − (𝑁 − 𝑀)
3. If you get a carry in the (n+1)th digit, then the result is positive, add the carry to the
result and you are done
4. If you do not get a carry in the (n+1)th digit, then the result is negative. Take the
diminished radix complement of the number to get the answer, then put a
negative sign

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Subtraction using complements

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Binary subtraction with complements
• Perform the following subtractions using 2’s complement method:
• (110001)2 – (010100)2
• (010110)2 – (100)2
• (10)2 – (100000)2
• (100001)2 – (110100)2

• Perform the following subtractions using 1’s complement method:

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Representing fractions (real numbers)
• We need to operate with fractions all the time
• This means we need a method to store/represent them in binary
• The simplest way is to have a “fixed” point representation where the binary
point is assumed to be fixed at a certain location
• For example, for an 4-bit system, if given fixed-point representation is II.FF,
then you can store minimum value is 00.01 (0001) and maximum value is
11.11 (1111)
• Remember the point is not actually stored – it is assumed to be there
• There are three parts of a fixed-point number representation: the sign
field, integer field, and fractional field – which means we can also have
signed magnitude fixed point numbers and signed complement fixed point
numbers

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Fixed point representation
• The advantage of using a fixed-point
representation is performance and ease
of arithmetic
• The disadvantage is relatively limited
range of values that they can represent
• So, it is usually inadequate for
numerical analysis as it does not allow
enough numbers and accuracy
• For instance, using 32-bit format: the 1
bit sign bit, 15 bits for integer, and 16
bits for the fractional part, the smallest
positive number is 2-16 ≈ 0.000015, and
the largest positive number is ≈ 32768
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Floating point representation (IEEE Standard 754 Floating point)
• This representation does not reserve a specific
number of bits for the integer part or the fractional
part
• Instead it reserves a certain number of bits for the
number (called the mantissa) and a certain number
of bits to say where within that number the −53.5=(−110101.1)2=(−1.101011)x25
decimal place sits (called the exponent)
• We convert the number to be stored as 𝑁 = 𝑀 ∗ 𝑟 𝑒
and store M and e as binary
• Clearly, a large mantissa and small exponent can
give both high precision and high range
• The exponent field needs to represent both
positive and negative exponents. To do this, a bias
is added to the actual exponent in order to get the
stored exponent
• For instance, using 32-bit format: the 1 bit sign bit,
8 bits for signed exponent, and 23 bits for the
fractional part. Smallest is 1.18x10-38 and the
largest is 3.40x1038

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