The X 86 Microprocessors: Architecture, Programming and Interfacing (8086 to Pentium) 2nd Edition by Pearson

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THE

x86 MICROPROCESSORS

4.4 | Number Format Conversions

We know that computers do all their calculations using binary arithmetic, but we are

accustomed to doing calculations in decimal form. We see numbers printed out in the

decimal form and enter data using the keyboard as decimal numbers. Our conclusion

obviously is that though arithmetic data is processed mostly in binary form by com-

puters, there are methods to convert binary data to forms better suited for display and

understanding. Also, if we want to process numeric data in a format other than binary,

that should also be possible.

As such, let us examine some of the number formats frequently used. Two of the

most widely used formats are BCD and ASCII. BCD is ‘binary coded decimal’ ...