12-1. Base -2
By using −2 as the base, both positive and negative integers can be expressed without an explicit sign or other irregularity such as having a negative weight for the most significant bit (Knu3). The digits used are 0 and 1, as in base +2; that is, the value represented by a string of 1’s and 0’s is understood to be
From this, it can be seen that a procedure for finding the base −2, or “negabinary,” representation of an integer is to successively divide the number by −2, recording the remainders. The division must be such that it always gives a remainder of 0 or 1 (the digits to be used); that is, it must be modulus division. As ...
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