computer systems Flashcards
what does decimal or denary mean
numbers written in base 10 using the digits 0 - 9
what does binary mean
means numbers are written in base 2 using the digits 0 - 1
why do computer systems use binary numbers to encode all info
easier to represent only two values
it is easier to build electronic circuitry for carrying out calculations with only two numbers
its possible to store and process large quantities of digital info in this form
How does a computer system know what 10000010100101000100010110010001 represents?
It depends largely on what the computer is expecting! Each piece of data will carry a code indicating what typeof data it is
what is an integer
a number with no fractional part e.g. 76, 2
whats the largest possible 8 bit binary number
11111111 (255)
OR 2’8– 1
what is a real number
a number that has a fractional part
how is a real number stored
using floating point representation using a mantissa and an exponent e.g. 6527.802 = 0.6527802 x 104
what is a character
any symbol or letter found on a keyboard.
what is a computer character set
a list of all the characters a computer can process and store. Different computers have different character sets
what are control characters
do not print on the screen in the normal way.
They control certain operations of thecomputer
cursor up’, cursor down’, ‘clear screen’, ‘tab’, ‘return (enter)’, ‘delete’ etc. they are characters with ASCII codes 0 to 31
what is extended ASCII
american standard code for information interchangeits stored using one byte (8bits)2’8 = 256 therefore ASCII can represent 256 different charactersIn ASCII, codes 0 - 31 are used for control characters e.g. 0001001 is the tab key
what are vector graphics
graphics made up of objects each having a set of attributes
give examples of some vector graphic objects
rectangle, ellipse, line, polygon
give examples of vector attributes
co-ordinates, fill colour, line colour