2 Data Representation

Question 1

2.1.9

Define bit

Answer 1

The smallest unit of data in a computer. Can either be on or off (1 or 0).

Question 2

2.1.9

Define byte

Answer 2

8 bits

Question 3

2.1.9

Define binary

Answer 3

Binary is a base-2 number system where there are only two possible values for each digit (0 or 1).

Question 4

2.1.9

Define denary / decimal

Answer 4

Base 10 counting system.

Question 5

2.1.9

Define hexadecimal

Answer 5

Base 16 counting system. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F

Question 6

2.1.10

Outline the way integers are represented in the computer

Answer 6

Integers are typically represented in computers using binary notation, where each integer is expressed as a sequence of binary digits (0s and 1s).

Question 7

2.1.10

Outline the way characters are represented in the computer

Answer 7

Characters are represented in binary using character encoding schemes which assign numerical values to characters.

ASCII is a character-encoding scheme originally based on the English alphabet. However, this is quite outdated and is limited to basic symbols and the Latin alphabet.

Currently, the most widely known character encoding scheme is Unicode. It uses more memory (bits) to encode each character but supports many more languages and symbols.

Question 8

2.1.10

Outline the way strings are represented on the computer

Answer 8

Strings are represented as a sequence of characters. And the characters are represented in binary using a character encoding scheme.

In modern computing, character encodings like UTF-8 or UTF-16 are used to represent strings that can include characters from various languages. This is because some languages have very diverse characters which require more memory to encode.

Question 9

2.1.10

Outline the way colours are represented on the computer

Answer 9

A computer monitor is made up of many pixels. And each pixel can display one colour by combining different intensities of red, green and blue.

A common way of representing colours on the computer is with RGB values that specify the amount of red, green and blue that need to appear at each pixel. The intensity of each colour component is given by an 8 bit value (0 to 255). If a wider colour depth is needed, each colour component could be represented in more bits (usually 16).