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Essentials of Computer Organization and Architecture, 5th Edition
book

Essentials of Computer Organization and Architecture, 5th Edition

by Linda Null, Julia Lobur
March 2018
Beginner content levelBeginner
744 pages
26h 5m
English
Jones & Bartlett Learning
Content preview from Essentials of Computer Organization and Architecture, 5th Edition

2.2   POSITIONAL NUMBERING SYSTEMS

At some point during the middle of the sixteenth century, Europe embraced the decimal (or base 10) numbering system that the Arabs and Hindus had been using for nearly a millennium. Today, we take for granted that the number 243 means two hundreds, plus four tens, plus three units. Notwithstanding the fact that zero means “nothing,” virtually everyone knows that there is a substantial difference between having 1 of something and having 10 of something.

The general idea behind positional numbering systems is that a numeric value is represented through increasing powers of a radix (or base). This is often referred to as a weighted numbering system because each position is weighted by a power of the radix.

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781284123043