The most common method of representing signed integers.

Key Concepts

  • It uses the most significant bit to indicate whether the number is positive or negative
    • 1 is negative
    • 0 is positive
  • Reading negative numbers is entirely different than reading positive numbers It replaces Signed Magnitude Method

Positive Numbers

Positive numbers are represented the exact same as in Signed Magnitude Method

Negative Numbers

Its a rather simple process

  1. we have a positive number
  2. flip each bit’s polarity
  3. Add one to the flipped value
  4. Solve
  5. The final negative value is

Reading Negative Numbers

101101 First, know the MSB is negative, then add all the other bits so that would be: -(2^5) + (2^3) + (2^2) + (2^0) = -32 + 8 + 4 + 1 = -19