ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the background material necessary for understanding and using the number systems and numeric data storage structures employed in digital computers. The material includes low- and high-level integer conversion routines. The origin and the fundamental application of a number system is counting. Imagine a primitive hunter using his or her fingers to show other members of the tribe how many mammoth were spotted during a scouting trip. By this simple scheme the hunter is able to transmit a unique type of information. The first number system probably started from notches on a stick or scratches on a cave wall. In the simplest form, sometimes called a tally system, each scratch, notch, or line represents an object. The method is so simple and intuitive that continue resorting to it, even after mastering the intricacies of the calculi. Tallying is based on a one-to-one correspondence between objects and their representation.
