Appendix A

Numbering systems

A generalized number system

A number system is formed by allocating symbols to specific numerical values. Any
group of symbols can be used with the total number of symbols for a number system
called the base of the system.
The three most common bases are:
• Binary with two symbols (0 and 1) and hence a base of 2.
• Hexadecimal with sixteen symbols (0,1,2...9,A, B....F) and hence a base of 16.
• Decimal with ten symbols (0,1,2...9) and hence a base of 10.
When numbers with different bases are being used in the same descriptive text they
sometimes have the subscript referring to the base being used, as in 3421.1910 for a
decimal or base 10 number.
Numerical symbols have to be combined in a certain way to represent other
combinations of numbers. The decimal numbering system has the structure laid out in
Table A.1 for weighting each digit in the number 3421.1910 in a combination of numbers
written together.
Exponential notation is used here, for example: 102 means 100 and 10–3 means 0.001.

Weight 104 103 102 101 100 . 10–1 10–2 10–3 10–4 10–5
0 3 4 2 1 . 1 9 0 0 0

Table A.1
Decimal weighting structure

The most significant digit (or MSD) in this number is 3. This refers to the left most
digit that has the greatest weight (103 or 1000) assigned to it.
The least significant digit (or LSD) in this number is 9. This refers to the right most
digit that has the least weight (10-2 or 0.01) assigned to it.
This represents the number calculated below:
326 Practical Data Communications For Instrumentation and Control

– – –
...0×10 4 +3×10 3 +4×10 2 +2×10 1 +1×10 0 +1×10 1 +9×10 2 +0×10 3 +...

Binary numbers
Binary numbers are commonly used with computers and data communications because
they represent two states – either ON or OFF. For example, the EIA-232-C standard has
two voltages assigned for indicating ON (say, –5 Volts,) or OFF (say, +5 Volts). Any
other voltages outside a narrow band around these voltages are undefined.
The word bit, referred to often in the literature, is a contraction of the words binary
digit.
The same principles for representing a binary number apply as in section 1 above. For
example, the number 1011.12 means the following using Table A.2.

Weight 24 23 22 21 20 . 2–1 2–2 2–3 2–4 2–5

0 1 0 1 1 . 1 0 0 0 0

Table A.2
Binary weighting system

This translates into the following number:

– –
.....0×2 4 +1×2 3 +0×2 2 +1×2 1 +1×2 0 +1×2 1 +0×2 2 +.....
The most significant bit (MSB) in the above number is the left most bit and is 1 with
weighting of 23. The right most bit is the least significant bit (LSB) and is valued at 1
with a weighting of 2–1.

Conversion between decimal and binary numbers

Table A.3 gives the conversion between decimal and binary numbers. Note that the
binary equivalent of decimal 15 is written in binary form as 1111 (using 4 bits). This 4 bit
binary grouping will have significance in hexadecimal arithmetic later. As expected
binary 0 is equivalent to decimal 0.

Decimal number Binary equivalent

0 0
1 1
2 10
3 11
4 100
5 101
6 110
7 111
8 1000
9 1001
10 1010 contd…
 Appendix A – Numbering systems 327

contd… 11 1011
12 1100
13 1101
14 1110
15 1111

Table A.3
Equivalent binary and decimal numbers

The procedure to convert from a binary number to a decimal number is straightforward.

For example, to convert 1101.012 to decimal; use the weighting factors for each bit to
make the conversion.
1101.01 2 =1×(2 3 )+1×(2 2 )+0×(2 1 )+1×(2 0 )+0(2 – 1 )+1×(2 – 2 )
This is equivalent to:
1101.01 2 =1×(8)+1×(4)+0×(2)+1×(1)+0×(½)+1×(¼)
This then works out to:
1101. 01 2 =8+4+0+1+0.25

1101. 01 2 =13.25
The conversion process from a decimal number to a binary number is slightly more
complex. The procedure here is to repeatedly divide the decimal number by 2 until the
quotient (the result of the division) is equal to zero. Each of the remainders forms the
individual bits of the binary number.
For example, to convert decimal number 4310 to binary form:

2 43 remainder 1 (LSB)
2 21 remainder 1
2 10 remainder 0
2 5 remainder 1
2 2 remainder 0
2 1 remainder 1 (MSB)
0

Table A.4
Illustration of decimal to binary conversion

This translates a number 4310 to 1010112.

Hexadecimal numbers
Most of the work done with computers and data communications systems is based on the
Hexadecimal number system, with the base of 16 and uses the sequence of symbols:
0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E,F
328 Practical Data Communications For Instrumentation and Control

Hence, the number of FA9.0216 would be represented as below in Table A.5

Weight 164 163 162 161 160 . 16– 1 16– 2 16– 3 16– 4 16– 5
0 0 F A 9 . 0 2 0 0 0

Table A.5
Hexadecimal weighting structure

This translates into the following number:

.....0 ×1 6 4 +0 ×1 6 3 +F×1 6 2 +A×1 6 1 +9 ×1 6 0 +0 ×1 6 1 +2 ×1 6 2 +.....
– –

The most significant digit (MSD) in the above number is the left most symbol and is F
with weighting of 162. The right most symbol is the least significant digit (LSD) and is
valued at 2 with a weighting of 16–2.

Conversion between binary and hexadecimal

The conversion between binary and hexadecimal is effected by modifying Table A.6 to
Table A.6 below:

Decimal Hexadecimal Binary equivalent

number equivalent
0 0 0000
1 1 0001
2 2 0010
3 3 0011
4 4 0100
5 5 0101
6 6 0110
7 7 0111
8 8 1000
9 9 1001
10 A 1010
11 B 1011
12 C 1100
13 D 1101
14 E 1110
15 F 1111

Table A.6
Relationship between decimal, binary and hexadecimal numbers

As can be seen from the table, the binary numbers are grouped in fours for the largest
single digit hexadecimal character or symbol. A similar approach of grouping bits in
fours is followed in expressing a binary number as a Hexadecimal number.
In converting the binary number 10000100111101112 to its hexadecimal equivalent the
following procedure should be adopted. First, break up the binary number into groups of
 Appendix A – Numbering systems 329

four commencing from the least significant bit. Then equate the equivalent Hex symbol
to it (derived from Table A.6 above).
1000010011110111 becomes:

1000 ... 0100 ... 1111 ... 01112

8 ... 4 ... F ... 716

or 84F716.
In order to convert a hexadecimal number back to binary the procedure used above
must be reversed.
For example, in converting from C9A4 to binary this becomes:
C ... 9 ... A ... 416
1100 ... 1001 ... 1010 ... 01002

or 11001001101001002.

Binary arithmetic
'JJOZOUT
Knowledge of binary addition is useful although it can be cumbersome. It is based on the
following four combinations of adding binary numbers:
0 0 1 1
0 1 0 1
0 1 1 0 and carry 1
The carry 1 (or bit) is the only difficult part of the process. This addition of the
individual bits of the number should be done sequentially from the LSB to the MSB (as in
normal decimal arithmetic).
An example of addition is given below:

10100010012
00111010102
11011100112

9[HZXGIZOUT
The most commonly used method of binary subtraction is to use 2’s complement. This
means that instead of subtracting two binary numbers (with the attendant problems such
as having ‘carry out’ bits); the addition process is applied.
For example, take two numbers and subtract the one from the other as follows:
12 which is equivalent to: 1100
–4 Subtrahend –0100
8 Result 1000
The two’s complement is found by first complementing all the bits in the subtrahend
and then adding 1 to the least significant bit.
Complementing the number results in 0100 becoming: 1011.
Add 1 to the least significant bit gives a two’s complement number of: 1100.
330 Practical Data Communications For Instrumentation and Control

Add 11002 to 11002 as follows:

1100
1100
1000 carry 1
(This is the same result as above).

+^IR[YO\K58>58
Exclusive-OR is a procedure very commonly used with binary numbers in the error
detection sequences of data communications. The result of an XOR operation on any two
binary digits is the same as the addition of two digits without the carry bit.
Consequently, this operation is sometimes also called the Modulo-2 adder. The truth table
for XOR is shown below:

Bit 1 Bit 2 XOR

0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 0

Table A.7
Exclusive-OR truth table

Hardware/firmware and software

The hardware refers to the physical components of a device, such as a computer, sensor,
controller or data communications system. These are the physical items that one can see.
The software refers to the programs that are written by a user to control the actions of a
microprocessor or a computer. These may be written in one of many different
programming languages and may be changed by the user from time to time.
The firmware refers to the ‘microprograms’, usually residing in a read-only memory
(ROM) and which normally cannot be changed by the user. The firmware usually
controls the sequencing of a microprocessor. Consequently, it is a combination of
hardware and software.
A port is the place of access to a device or a network used for the input or output of
digital data signals.