Page 10 - Computer Genius Class 07
P. 10

A computer ta es data  rom a user and produces result as in ormation. Although the  ords  data
                  and in ormation   are o ten used interchangea ly   ut there is an important distinction  et een the
                  t o  ords.  n the strict sense  data consists o  the ra  num ers that computers organise to produce
                  in ormation.
                  From an early age   e are introduced to the concept o  num ers and counting. Toddlers learn at an
                  early age that they can carry t o coo ies  one in each hand.  indergarteners start counting  y t os
                  and fi es.  n aria ly   e use the decimal num er system. Our num er system is  ased on 1   most
                  li ely  ecause  e ha e 1  fingers.  et us learn more a out the num er system.

                  Number System

                  A num er system is a collection o  num ers used to descri e  arious  uantities. There are many
                  num er  systems  in  e istence.   onsider  a  digital  cloc .  Digital  cloc s  ha e  2   hours   each  hour
                  composed o     minutes.  ach minute is in turn composed o     seconds.  hen you learnt to count
                  you used the num ers  li e 1  2     etc. Similarly  computers also ha e their o n num er system
                   no n as the  inary num er system.
                  The digital computer represents all  inds o  data and in ormation li e audio  graphics   ideo
                  te t and num ers in  inary  orm. The total num er o  digits used in a num er system is called
                  its base or radix. There ore   hen someone says that they are  or ing  ith num er system o
                  radi  2  it means  ase 2  i.e.   inary num er system. The  ase is  ritten a ter the num er as
                  su script such as   12  .  n this e ample  the num er 1  is  ritten as the su script to e press
                                          1
                  the num er in decimal num er system.





                       The numerical digits   e use today  i.e.  1  2 and   are  ased on the  indu Ara ic numeral
                       system.
                       Different names  or the num er   include  ero  nought  naught  nil   ilch and  ip.




                  There are  our types o  num er systems   hich are as  ollo s
                  1.  Decimal num er system           2.   inary num er system

                   .  Octal num er system              .   e adecimal num er system
                  Decimal Number System

                  The decimal num er system is a standard num er system  or denoting num ers.  t consists o  ten
                  digits  rom   to  . Only these digits can  e used to represent numeric  alue in decimal num er system.
                   ence  the  ase o  decimal num er system is 1 . The decimal num er system is the most  idely used
                  num er system. The  alue represented  y indi idual digit depends on the  eight and position o  the
                  digit.
                  The position o  first digit to ards le t side o  the decimal point is  . The position o  second digit
                  to ards le t side o  the decimal point is 1. Similarly  the position o  first digit to ards right side o
                  decimal point is  1. The position o  second digit to ards right side o  decimal point is  2  and so on.




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