ELECTRONIC

FOR WIRELESS.
SCS 207.
Number Systems and Codes
By
Mr. Isaac Kuma Yeboah.
1

Chapter Objectives

You should be able to:

Determine the weighting factor of each digit
position in the decimal, binary, octal, and
hexadecimal numbering systems.
Convert any number among the four number
systems, and its equivalent value in any of
the remaining three numbering systems.
Describe binary coded decimal (BCD)
numbers.
Translate alphanumeric data to and from
ASCII using the ASCII code translation table.

Digital versus Analog

Digital

OFF and ON states that can be

represented using
0s and 1s (respectively).

Analog
Continuously varying
Examples: temperature, pressure,
velocity

Discussion Points

Explain the difference between

analog and digital signals.
Describe some applications for
digital technology.
What are the benefits of using
digital systems?
Are there any problems associated
with digital systems?
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Digital vs.
Analog

Digital Representations
of Analog Quantities

Audio Recording

Audio CD and MP3 players/recorders

Video Recording

DVDs store digital representations of

analog video and audio signals

Analog Signal Voltages

and Their Digital
Equivalents

Digital-to-Analog and
Back Again

Why Digital
Systems Are
Immune to Analog
Noise

Digital Representations of
Alternative Energy Sources

Energy technicians must keep track

of the efficiency of their energy
collection systems.
Naturally occurring quantities like
solar, wind, and temperature are
analog quantities and must be
digitized before a computer can
understand them.

A Solar Radiation Datalogger System

Number of Systems.
There are four systems of arithmetic which
are often used in digital circuits. These
systems are:
1. Decimal- it has a base or radix of 10 that is it
uses 10 different symbols to represent
numbers.
2. Binary-it has a base of 2, that is it uses only
two different symbols.
3. Octal-it has a base of 8, that is uses eight
different symbols.
4. Hexadecimal- it has a base of 16, that it uses
sixteen different symbols.

Decimal Numbering System (Base 10)

Decimal numbers are used to represent

quantities which are outside the digital system.
Base or Radix-the number of different digits
which can occur in each position in the number
system.
This system has a base of 10 and is a positionvalue system and decimal system uses power of
10.
10 possible digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9
Least-significant position is on the right end
Most-significant position is on the left end
Weighting factor of 10
10

Binary Numbering System

(Base 2)

Binary system is extensively used by

digital systems like digital computers
which operate on binary information.
Radix or base is two because it uses
only two digits 0 and 1.
Only two possible digits: 0 and 1
Weighting factor of 2
Conversion techniques
Digit times weighting factor
Successive division

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Decimal-to-Binary
Conversion
Integers: Such conversion can be achieved

by using the so-called double dabble method

or divide-by-two methods.
Subtracting weighting factors: This is
performed in a manner similar to that used
in decimal subtraction.
Successive division: In this method, we
progressively divide the given decimal
number by 2 and write down the remainders
after each division.
First remainder is the Least-Significant Bit (LSB)
Last remainder is the Most-Significant Bit (MSB)

12

Octal Numbering System

(Base 8)

Radix or Base: It has a base of 8

which means that it has eight
distinct counting digits.
Eight allowable digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, and 7
Weighting factor of 8

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Octal Conversions

Binary to octal
Group binary positions in groups of
three
Write the octal equivalent

Octal to binary

Octal to decimal

Reverse the process

Multiply by weighting factors

Decimal to octal

Successive division
14

Hexadecimal Numbering
System
(Base 16)

16 allowable digits.

Each hex digit represents a 4-bit group

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, and
F
See Table 1-3

Two hex digits are used to represent 8

bits
8 bits are called a byte
4 bits are called a nibble

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Hexadecimal Numbering
System

Hexadecimal Conversions
Binary-to-hexadecimal

conversion

Group

the binary in groups of four

Write the equivalent hex digit
Hexadecimal-to-binary
Reverse

conversion

the process

16

Hexadecimal Conversions
Hexadecimal-to-decimal

conversion
Multiply

by weighting factors

Decimal-to-hexadecimal

conversion

Successive

division
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Binary-Coded-Decimal
System
(BCD)

Each of the 10 decimal digits is

represented by its 4-bit binary
equivalent.
Decimal-to-BCD conversion

Convert each decimal digit to its 4-bit

binary code

BCD-to-Decimal conversion

Reverse the process

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The ASCII Code

American Standard Code for

Information Interchange (ASCII)
Represents alphanumeric data
Uses 7 bits

128 different code combinations

(see Table 1-5)
3-bit group is most significant
4-bit group is least significant

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21

Numbering System
Applications

Because digital systems must work

with 1s and 0s, learning the different
numbering systems is important.
Which system is used is determined
by how the data were developed and
how they are to be used.
Several numbering system
applications follow.

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Application 1-1
The four chemical storage tanks
shown are monitored for
temperature (T) and pressure (P).

22

Application 1-1 (continued)

Using the table shown below,

interpret the following:
If the computer reads a binary
string of 0010 1000 what problems
exist?
This indicates that the pressure in
tanks C and B are too high.

22

Application 1-1 (continued)

Using the table shown below,

interpret the following:
If the computer reads a hex value of
55H what problems exist?
Since 55H =0101 0101 This
indicates that all tank temperatures
are too high.

22

Application 1-1 (continued)

Using the table shown below,

interpret the following:
If the temperature and pressure in
tanks B and D are too high, what
hex value is read by the computer?
computer
This condition would produce a
digital output of 1100 1100 = CCH.

22

Application 1-1 (continued)

Using the table shown below, interpret

the following:
Assume that tanks A and B are shut
down and all sensors are tied high (1s).
What is the lowest decimal value that
indicates a problem in the other two
tanks?
With the four low-order bits tied high,
the lowest value that indicates a
problem is 0001 111 or 3110.

22

Application 1-1 (continued)

Using the table shown below,

interpret the following:

If only tanks A, B, and C are monitored,

what octal value indicates tank B has
both temperature and pressure
problems?
The binary output would be 001 1002 =
148.

22

Application 1-2
A CD player converts 12-bit signals
from a CD into equivalent analog
values.
What are the largest and smallest hex
values that can be used in this system?

The largest is FFF16 and the smallest is

00016.

How many different analog values can

be represented?

FFF16 = 409510, so including 0 the total is

4096 unique values.
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Application 1-3
Typically, digital thermometers
use BCD to drive their displays.
displays
How many BCD bits are
required to drive a 3-digit
display?

12 bits are required; four for each

digit.
What 12 bits represent 147F?
0001 (1), 0100 (4), and 0111 (7).

22

Application 1-4
Most PC-compatible computer
systems use a 20-bit address code
to identify each of over 1 million
memory locations.
locations
How many hex characters are
required to identify the address of
each memory location?

Five

hex characters are required since

each hex character represents 4 bits.
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Application 1-4 (continued)

What is the hex address of the 200 th

memory location?
000C8H = 20010, but 00000H is the
first memory location, so we must
subtract 1. The answer is C8 1 = C7.
If 50 memory locations are used for data
storage starting at location 000C8H,
what is the location of the last data
item?

C8H gets the first data item, so the answer

is 24910 = F9H.
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Application 1-5

The part number 651-M is stored in ASCII in a

computer memory. List the binary contents of its
memory locations?
6 = 011 0110
5 = 011 0101
1 = 011 0001
- = 010 1101
M = 100 1101
Grouping the binary bits in eights, this string
represents 5 hex memory locations:
011 0110 011 0101 011 0001 010 1101 100 1101
36
35
31
2D
4D
22

Application 1-6

A programmer uses a debugging

utility to find an error in a BASIC
program. The utility shows the ASCII
code as hex 474F5430203930.
Assume that the leftmost bit of each
ASCII string is padded with a zero.
The program segment is translated as
GOT0 90.
The error is that a zero (0) was
typed instead of the letter O.
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Summary

Numerical quantities occur naturally

in analog form but must be
converted to digital form to be used
by computers or digital circuitry.
The binary numbering system is
used in digital systems because the
1s and 0s are easily represented by
ON or OFF transistors, which output
0 V for 0 and +5 V for 1.
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Summary

Any number system can be converted to

decimal by multiplying each digit by its
weighting factor.
The weighting factor for the least
significant digit in any number system is
always 1.
Binary numbers can be converted to
octal by forming groups of 3 bits and to
hexadecimal by forming groups of 4 bits.

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Summary

The successive division procedure can

be used to convert from decimal to
binary, octal, or hexadecimal
The binary-coded-decimal system
uses groups of 4 bits to drive decimal
displays such as those in a calculator.
ASCII is used by computers to
represent all letters, numbers and
symbols in digital form.
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