Binary And Hex (Ch8) (M1)

Question 1

What is denary?

Answer 1

Denary is the base 10 number system that we are used to using, when working with number

Question 2

What is binary?

Answer 2

Binary is the base 2 number system that a computer uses to represent numbers, referring to the on and off states of electrical current in a computer system

Question 3

What is a bit?

Answer 3

A bit is a single binary digit consisting of 0 or 1. The smallest unit of measurement for computer data.

Question 4

What does the CPU do?

Answer 4

The Central Processing Unit (CPU) of a computer performs calculations by using transistors acting as switches. Each switch is either on or off.

Question 5

If the input is on, what number do we represent this with?

Answer 5

If the input is on, then we represent this with a 1

Question 6

If the input is off, what number do we represent this with?

Answer 6

If the input is off, then we represent this with a 0

Question 7

What happens if your final addition is 1+1 or 1+1+carry 1? Why?

Answer 7

If your final addition is 1+1 or 1+1+carry 1, this requires a carry, meaning there needs to be a ninth bit. This results in an overflow error.

Question 8

What is a binary shift?

Answer 8

A binary shift is when the CPU shifts the entire number at least one place to the left or right

Question 9

What is the effect of a left shift?

Answer 9

A left shift adds a 0 to the end. It multiplies the number by 10.

Question 10

What is the effect of a right shift?

Answer 10

A left shift adds a 0 to the start. It divides the number by 2.

Question 11

What is the problem with right shifts?

Answer 11

Using right shifts leads to a loss of accuracy

Question 12

What is hexadecimal?

Answer 12

Hexadecimal (also known as base 16), is another number system that we can use when programming and working with large numbers.

Question 13

What digits and letters does hexadecimal use?

Answer 13

Hexadecimal uses digits 0 to 9 and letters A to F

Question 14

Give one advantage of hexadecimal

Answer 14

Hexadecimal provides a shorthand notation for large binary numbers and is easier for a human to understand.

Due to hex numbers being shorter, there’s less chance of input errors.

It’s easier to convert between binary and hex than binary and denary.

Hexadecimal is used because large numbers can be represented with fewer digits.

Question 15

Why is hexadecimal used?

Answer 15

Hexadecimal is used because large numbers can be represented with fewer digits.

Question 16

What is the process of converting a binary number to hexadecimal?

Answer 16

Converting binary to hexadecimal:

First, split the binary number into nibbles
Draw a table with columns labelled 1, 2, 4, 8, then repeat the values for as many nibbles as you require
Fill in the table with your binary number
For each nibble, add up the numbers with a 1 in the column, then convert this value to hex
Put the hex values together

Question 17

What is the process of converting hexadecimal to a binary number?

Answer 17

Converting hexadecimal to binary:

Find the denary value of each character
Draw a table with columns labelled 1, 2, 4, 8, then convert the denary values into binary
Put the nibbles together to get the equivalent binary number