Chapter -2 Encoding Scheme and Number System

(Part-1)
Q-1 Which Language does a computer understand?
Ans. computer understands only binary language of 0 and 1.
when a key on the keyboard is pressed, it is internally
mapped to a unique code, which is further converted to
binary.

Q-2 What is ASCII?

Ans. ASCII stands for American Standard Code for
Information Interchange.
Earlier, computers had no way of communicating with each
other due to different ways of representing keys of the
keyboard. So the need for a common standard was realised
to overcome this issue. Thus, encoding scheme ASCII was
developed for standardising the character representation.
ASCII used 7 bits to represent characters. Recall that
there are only 2 binary digits (0 or 1). Therefore, total
number of different characters on the English keyboard that
can be encoded by 7-bit ASCII code is 27 = 128.
Q-3 What is ISCII?
Ans. It is an 8-bit code representation for Indian languages
which means it can represent 28=256 characters. It retains all
128 ASCII codes and uses rest of the codes (128) for
additional Indian language character set.

Q-4 What is UNICODE?

Ans. UNICODE provides a unique number for every character,
irrespective of device (server, desktop, mobile), operating
system (Linux, Windows, iOS) or software application
(different browsers, text editors, etc.). Commonly used
UNICODE encodings are UTF-8, UTF-16 and UTF-32. It is a
superset of ASCII, and the values 0–128 have the same
character as in ASCII.
Q-5 What is Number System? Explain Various Number
Systems.
Ans. – As we know that each key (character, special symbol,
function keys) of the keyboard is internally mapped to an
ASCII code using an encoding scheme. This encoded value is
further converted to its equivalent Binary representation so
that the computer can understand it.

Number System Base Comprises of Digits

Binary 2 0,1
Octal 8 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7
Decimal 10 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
Hexa Decimal 16 0-9, A (10), B, C, D, E, F (15)

Q-6 Describe Binary Number System.

Ans. The ICs (Integrated Circuits) in a computer are made up
of a large number of transistors which are activated by the
electronic signals (low/high) they receive. The ON/ high and
OFF/low state of a transistor is represented using the two
digits 1 and 0, respectively. These two digits 1 and 0 form the
binary number system. This system is also referred as base-2
system.
Q-7 Describe Octal Number System.
Ans. With increase in the value of a decimal number, the
number of bits (0/1) in its binary representation also
increases. Sometimes, a binary number is so large that it
becomes difficult to manage. Octal number system was
devised for compact representation of the binary numbers.
Octal number system is called base-8 system.

Q-8 Describe Hexa Decimal Number System.

Ans. Hexadecimal numbers are also used for compact
representation of binary numbers. It consists of 16 unique
symbols (0 – 9, A–F), and is called base- 16 system.
Main memory is made up of memory locations where each
location has a unique address. Usually, size of a memory
address is 16-bit or 32-bit. To access 16-bit memory address,
a programmer has to use 16 binary bits, which is difficult to
deal with. To simplify the address representation,
hexadecimal and octal numbers are used.
Q-9 Write the steps of Conversion from Decimal to other
Number Systems.
Ans. To convert a decimal number to any other number
system (binary, octal or hexadecimal), use the steps given
below.
Step 1: Divide the given number by the base value (b) of the
number system in which it is to be converted.
Step 2: Note the remainder.
Step 3: Keep on dividing the quotient by the base value and
note the remainder till the quotient is zero
Step 4: Write the noted remainders in the reverse order
(from bottom to top).
Q-10 Convert following Decimal Numbers into Binary, Octal
and Hexa Decimal Numbers.
(45)10 (17)10 (66)10 (202)10

Q-11 Write steps of Conversion from other Number Systems

to Decimal Number System.
Ans. We can use the following steps to convert the given
number with base value b to its decimal equivalent, where
base value b can be 2, 8 and 16 for binary, octal and
Hexadecimal number system, respectively.
Step 1: Write the position number for each alphanumeric
symbol in the given number
Step 2: Get positional value for each symbol by raising its
position number to the base value b symbol in the given
number.
Step 3: Multiply each digit with the respective positional
value to get a decimal value.
Step 4: Add all these decimal values to get the equivalent
decimal number
Q-12 Solve Following Queries:
(A) (100001010)2 = (?)10
(B) (BA1F)16 = (?)10
(C) (7162)8 = (?)10
Q-13 Explain Conversion of Binary Number to Octal & Hexa
Decimal Number?
Ans.
Binary Number to Octal- A Binary number, an equivalent
octal number represented by 3 bits is computed by grouping
3 bits from right to left and replacing each 3-bit group by the
corresponding octal digit. In case number of bits in a binary
number is not multiple of 3, then add required number of 0s
on most significant position of the binary number.
Example- (1100111)2 =(?)8
Make group of 3-3 digits - 001 100 111
(Write 0 in left side) 1 4 7
So, we can write (147)8

Binary Number to Hexadecimal Number- Given a Binary

number, its equivalent hexadecimal number is computed by
making a group of 4 binary digits from right to left and
substituting each 4-bit group by its corresponding
hexadecimal alphanumeric symbol.
Example- (1101111)2 =(?)16
Make group of 4-4 digits - 0110 1111
(Write 0 in left side) 6 F
So, we can write (6F)16
Q-14 Explain Conversion from Octal & Hexa Decimal
Number to Binary Number.
Ans. Octal Number to Binary Number - Each octal digit is an
encoding for a 3-digit binary number. Octal number is
converted to binary by replacing each octal digit by a group
of three binary digits.
Example- (147) =(?) 2
write each digit individually- 1 4 7
(write binary equivalent into 3 Digits) 001 100 111
We can write (1100111) 2
Hexadecimal Number to Binary Number - Each hexadecimal
symbol is an encoding for a 4-digit binary number. Hence, the
binary equivalent of a hexadecimal number is obtained by
substituting 4-bit binary equivalent of each hexadecimal digit
and combining them together.
Example- (6F) 16 =(?)2
Write each digit individually - 6 F
(write binary equivalent into 4 Digits) (0110) (1111)
So, we can write (1101111)2