Fundamentals of Computers: For Undergraduate Courses in Commerce and Management

2

NUMBER SYSTEMS AND COMPUTER CODES

Chapter Outline

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Number System

2.3 Computer Arithmetic

2.4 Coding Schemes

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Since the early days of human civilisation, people have been using their fingers, sticks, and other things for counting. It all started perhaps, with the need to figure out the assets a person had. As daily activities became more complex, numbers became more important in trade, time, distance, and in all other spheres of human life. It became apparent that we needed more than our fingers and toes to keep track of the number in our daily routine. Furthermore, ever since people discovered that it was necessary to count objects, they have been looking for easier ways of counting. To count large numbers, ...