Notes for Introduction to Computer Systems: Integer Representation

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Encoding byte values

  • 1 byte = 8 bits
  • Range from:
  • Binary 00000000 to 11111111
  • Decimal 0 to 255
  • Hexidecimal 00 to FF

Boolean algebra

Relationship with set operation

  • And (&) => intersection
    A&B = 1 when A = 1 and B = 1
  • Or (|) => union
    A|B = 1 when either A = 1 or B = 1
  • Not (~) => symmetric difference
    ~A = 1 when A = 0
  • Exclusive-or (^) => complement
    A^B = 1 when either A = 1 or B = 1, but not both

Shift operations

  • Left shift (x << y): throw away extra bit; fill with 0 on right
  • Right shift (x >> y)
    Logical shift: fill with 0 on left
    Arithmetic shift: replicate MSB (most significant figure)
  • Undefined: shift amount < 0 or >= word size

Integer representation

  • Unsigned:
    $$
    B2U(X)=\sum_{i=0}^{w-1}x_i \cdot 2^i
    $$
    e.g. $1011=1 \times 2^0 + 1 \times 2^1 + 0 \times 2^3 + 1 \times 2^4$
  • Two’s complement:
    $$
    B2T(X)=-x_{w-1} \cdot 2^{w-1} + \sum_{i=0}^{w-2} x_i \cdot 2^i
    $$
    e.g. $1011 = −1 \times 2^3 + (1 \times 2^0 + 1 \times 2^1 + 0 \times 2^2 )$

Numeric range of integer representations

Unsigned:
$$
UMin=0=000 \ldots 0
$$
$$
UMax=2^{w−1}= 111 \ldots 1
$$

Two’s complement
$$
TMin=−2^{w−1}
$$
$$
TMax=2^{w−1}−1
$$
(p.s. -110 = 111…12 in 2’s complement)

$$
|TMin|=TMax+1
$$
$$
UMax=2\times TMax+1
$$

Mapping between signed and unsigned

  • Keep bit representation and reinterpret
  • Large negative becomes large positive
  • $T2U(x)=x_(w−1) \cdot 2^w + x$
  • Justification:
    $$ B2U(X)−B2T(X)=x_{w−1}\cdot[2^{w−1}−(−2^{w−1} )]=x_{w−1}\cdot(2\cdot2^{w−1} )=x_{w−1}\cdot2^w$$
    $$B2U(X)=x_{w−1}\cdot2^w+B2T(X)$$
    If we let $B2T(X)=x$, then, $B2U(T2B(x))=T2U = x_{w−1} \cdot 2^w + x$
  • In expression containing signed and unsigned, signed is cast to unsigned

Expanding

To convert w-bit signed integer to w + k bit integer with same value, make k copies of sign bit

  • Justification
    $$
    X=−2^{w−1} x_{w−1}
    $$
    $$
    X’=−2^{w} x_{w−1}+2^{w−1} x_{w−1}=(−2^w+2^{w−1} ) x_{w−1}
    $$

Why use unsinged

Don’t use just because number is nonnegative; do use when need extra bit’s worth of range

Truncation (drop the high order w-k bits)

  • Unsigned (w-bit to k-bit): $\mod 2^k$
  • Two’s complement (w-bit to k-bit): Cast to unsigned then $\mod 2^k$