1/19/2008
Copyright 2005 – Tim Hoerning
6
Number System Comparison
•Example: Decimal
•Each column in the number represents a different power of 10
•1237 =
• 1 * 103 = 1*1000 +
• 2 * 102 =   2*100 +
• 3 * 101 =     3*10 +
• 7 * 100 =       7*1
•
•Example: Binary
•Each column in the number represents a different power of 2
•10011010101 =
• 1 * 210 = 1*1024
• 0 * 29  = 0*512
• 0 * 28   = 0*256
• 1 * 27  = 1*128
• 1 * 26   = 1*64
• 0 * 25  = 0*32
• 1 * 24   = 1*16
• 0 * 23   = 0*8
• 1 * 22   = 1*4
• 0 * 21   = 0*2
• 1 * 20   = 1*2
•
The bit on the left is the most significant bit (MSB) because it represents the largest value in the number.  The bit on the right is the least significant bit (LSB)