4.1.4

Binary Arithmetic

Test yourself

Binary Addition

We can add two binary numbers in exactly the same way as denary numbers.

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Adding two digits

  • If we add 0 + 0 we get 0.
  • If we add 1 + 0 (or 0 + 1) we get 1.
  • If we add 1 + 1, then we cannot use the symbol 2. So we need to carry the 1 and put 0 in the current place.
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Adding in a third bit

  • It might be the case that we have 1 + 1 and also a 1 carried over from the previous column.
  • If this is the case, then we carry the 1 and have 1 left over.
    • So we carry 1 and put 1 in the current place.
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Overflow errors

  • Binary numbers are stored as a fixed length.
  • If a number is carried past the last place column, then this is called an overflow error.
  • Overflow errors can lead to inaccurate results and software crashes.

Binary Shifts

A binary shift is a technique for performing multiplication or division on a binary number.

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Binary shift

  • In a binary shift, each digit is moved one column to the left or the right.
  • Extra 0 bits are added to the start or end of the binary number to fill any missing spaces.
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Left binary shift

  • In a left binary shift, each digit is moved one place to the left.
    • This has the effect of multiplying the number by two.
  • You must take care, when performing a left shift, that there is no overflow error (where we run out of space to store the last digit of the number).
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Right binary shift

  • In a right binary shift, each digit is moved one place to the right.
    • This has the effect of dividing the number by two.
  • You must take care when performing a right shift that no data is shifted off the right hand side. This can cause a loss of accuracy.

Jump to other topics

1Components of a Computer

2Software & Software Development

3Exchanging Data

4Data Types, Data Structures & Algorithms

5Legal, Moral, Cultural & Ethical Issues

6Elements of Computational Thinking

6.1Thinking Abstractly

6.2Thinking Procedurally

6.3Thinking Logically

7Problem Solving & Programming

8Algorithms

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