Computer Systems:

Data Representation

From the Course Specification

• Describe and exemplify the use of binary to represent positive and negative integers using two’s complement, including the range of numbers that can be represented using a fixed number of bits. 

• Conversion of two’s complement numbers from binary to denary and vice versa. 

• Describe and exemplify floating-point representation of positive and negative real numbers, using the terms mantissa and exponent. 

• Describe the relationship between the number of bits assigned to the mantissa/exponent, and the range and precision of floating-point numbers. 

• Describe Unicode used to represent characters and its advantage over extended ASCII code (8-bit) in terms of numbers of characters. 

• Describe the relative advantages and disadvantages of bit-mapped graphics versus vector graphics.