Topic One (1.1): Numbers and Quantities

Introduction

In this topic you will learn the basis of the different number systems and use the binary, denary and hexadecimal number systems. You will be able to perform a decimal to binary conversion.
You will then move on to learning a new topic of binary prefixes and be able to represent character data as binary.

By the end of this topic you should be able to:

• Show an understanding of binary and basis of different number systems.
• Describe applications where binary coded decimal and hexadecimal are used.
• Show an understanding of binary magnitudes and the difference between     binary prefixes and decimal prefixes.

Watch

WATCH – Converting Denary to Binary (YouTube) Links to an external site.

WATCH – Converting Binary to Denary (YouTube) Links to an external site.

WATCH – Converting Denary to Hexadecimal (YouTube) Links to an external site.

WATCH – Converting Hexadecimal to Denary (YouTube) Links to an external site.

WATCH - Converting Binary to Hexadecimal (YouTube) Links to an external site.

WATCH – Converting Hexadecimal to Binary(YouTube) Links to an external site.

WATCH – Decimal and Binary Prefixes for Describing Quantities of Bytes (YouTube) Links to an external site.

WATCH – Binary – Coded Decimal (YouTube) Links to an external site.

Read and Make Notes

Read pages 3 to 8 of the textbook. Ensure you make some notes and list examples as you read through. In particular, use the worked example 1.02.

Further Reading

READ – Number Systems (courses.cs.vt.edu) Links to an external site.

 End of Topic Review

Work through exam style questions 1a, 1b and 4a on pages 24 and 25.

You may check your answers using the Module 1 Exam style answer sheet.

CHECK - Textbook Answers

 Top Tip

Ensure that you understand the following before moving on to the next topic:

• The norm for unsigned integers is to count from 0 upwards.
• The values for powers of two from 2⁰ up to 2⁸ are 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256.