ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the binary number system in detail and explains two other widely used systems: octal and hexadecimal. These two number systems are useful in representing binary information in a compact form. Arithmetic in octal and hexadecimal systems requires some practice because of the general unfamiliarity with the systems. In the so-called fixed-point representation of binary numbers in digital systems, the radix point is assumed to be either at the right end or the left end of the field in which the number is represented. A digital system manipulates data that are composed of a finite number of discrete elements. The complement number system provides a convenient way of representing negative numbers, thus reducing the subtraction to an addition. The chapter also discusses some popular codes. The codes designed to represent only numeric data can be classified into two categories: weighted and non-weighted.
