4.1.7

Sign & Magnitude

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Sign and Magnitude

Sign and magnitude is a method of differentiating between positive and negative binary numbers

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Most significant bit

  • In sign and magnitude representation, the first bit in any byte is called the ‘most significant bit’ (MSB).
  • The MSB determines whether it is a positive or a negative number.
    • If the MSB is a 0, the number is positive.
    • If the MSB is a 1, the number is negative.
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Example

  • For example:
    • 00000100 represents the number 4
    • 10000100 represents the number -4

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 Ahead

6.3Thinking Procedurally

6.4Thinking Logically

6.5Thinking Concurrently

7Problem Solving & Programming

8Algorithms

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