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Unit 111

Information representation
Chapter

Revision objectives
By the end of the chapter you should be able to:
show understanding of the basis of different show understanding of how typical features found
number systems; use the binary, denary and in bitmapped and vector graphics software are
hexadecimal number systems; and convert a used in practice and are therefore appropriate for
number from one number system to another a given task
express a positive or negative integer in two’s show understanding of how sound is represented
complement form and encoded
show understanding of, and be able to represent, use the associated terminology: sampling, sampling
character data in its internal binary form rate, sampling resolution
express a denary number in binary coded show understanding of how ile sizes depend
decimal (BCD) and vice versa and describe on sampling rate and sampling resolution
practical applications where BCD is used show understanding of how typical features
show understanding of how data for a bitmapped found in sound-editing software are used in
image is encoded practice
use the terminology associated with bitmaps: show understanding of the characteristics of
pixel, ile header, image resolution, screen video streams: frame rate (frames/second);
resolution interlaced and progressive encoding; video
perform calculations estimating the ile size for interframe compression algorithms and
bitmapped images of different resolutions spatial and temporal redundancy; multimedia
container formats
show understanding of how data for a vector
graphic is represented and encoded show understanding of how digital data can
be compressed, using ‘lossless’ (including run-
use the terminology associated with vector
length encoding, RLE) or ‘lossy’ techniques.
graphics: drawing object, property and drawing list

1.01 Number representation Denary system

We present any denary number with some combination We were taught to use the denary (or decimal)
of the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, ..., 8 and 9. numbering system – that is, using base 10 with possible
digits 0, 1, 2, ..., 8 and 9.
Any number system is founded on the concepts of:
• a base
TERMS

• that digits in certain positions each have a place denary (decimal): numbering system using
value base 10 with possible digits 0, 1, 2, ..., 8 and 9

• the number of possible digits used is the base. binary: numbering system using base 2

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Binary system

Chapter 1 Information representation

The base 2 numbering (binary) system has possible digits 0 and 1.
This can be summarised as shown in Table 1.01.
System Base Possible digits Place values
denary 10 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 etc. 103 102 101 Units
8 7 2 6
binary 2 0, 1 etc. 23 22 21 Unit
1 0 1 1

Table 1.01 Denary and binary numbering systems

Intuitively we would read the denary number as “eight thousand, seven hundred and twenty six”.
Appreciate that it is based on the place-value concept that we have:
(8 x 1000) + (7 x 100) + (2 x 10) + 6 = 8726
Applying the same method to the binary pattern 10111, computes the pattern as binary number:
(1 x 16) + (0 x 8) + (1 x 4) + (1 x 2) + 1 = 23

Hexadecimal system
The base 16 numbering system can be summarised as shown in Table 1.02.

System Base Possible digits Place values

hexadecimal 16 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 etc. 163 162 161 Units
A, B, C, D, E, F
1 B 5

Table 1.02 Hexadecimal numbering system

The Hexadecimal numbering system follows our three The number shown in Table 1.02 is:
basic rules.
(1 x 256) + (B x 16) + 5 = 256 + 176 + 5 = 437 denary
Since the ‘digits’ allowed in base 16 extend past 9 then
we need a way to represent 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15. The
solution in hexadecimal is to use the characters A to F as Conversion between different
shown.
number presentations
If we did not do this, then the hexadecimal We can now convert from binary to denary and vice
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representation 13, could either be versa and also from hexadecimal to denary and vice
interpreted as 13 denary or (1 x 16) + 3 = versa. What about conversion between binary and
19 denary. hexadecimal?
One approach would be to convert into denary irst –
but there is a more direct way.

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Chapter 1 Information representation

Example:
Convert 0011110101010100 into hexadecimal
Divide the binary into groups of four binary digits:
0011 1101 0101 0100
Write the denary for each group
0011 1101 0101 0100
3 13 5 4
We can then convert each denary number to its hexadecimal equivalent:
3 D 5 4 = 3D54 hex
The method can be used in reverse to convert from hexadecimal to binary.
Example: Convert 4AE hex to a binary number stored as two bytes.
Hexadecimal: 4 A E
Denary: 4 10 14
Binary: 0100 1010 1110
‘Stored as two bytes’ means this number will be stored as 16-bit binary pattern as shown in Figure 1.01.
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0
Figure 1.01 A binary number stored as two bytes

Note the need to pack out the leftmost group of four bits
with zero bits. 3 What is the eight-bit binary representation for
these integers?
a 3 b 89 c 257
Numbers in the computer
4 Convert these hexadecimal numbers to denary:
All data in the computer must be represented in binary form. a 1A b 10B
Consider a single byte used to represent a positive 5 Convert these hexadecimal numbers to 12-bit
integer. binary representations:
• the most signiicant bit position has place value of 128 a 7D b 196 c AEC
• the least signiicant position has place value of a ‘unit’,
that is 0 or 1.
Two’s complement representation
Progress check 1.01 We need to be able to represent both positive and
1 What positive integer is this? negative integers.
One (simple) method would be to use the most signiicant
0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 bit to act as a ‘sign’ bit (1 for a negative integer and 0 for a
positive integer) . This method is called ‘sign and magnitude’
2 A positive integer is represented using a single
but is not in our 9608 syllabus.
byte. What is the denary value?
We shall use a representation – two’s complement –
a 0100 0001 b 1010 1010 c 1111 1111
which has a negative place value for the most signiicant

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bit. For a two’s complement presentation using a single Each digit of the denary number is represented in

Chapter 1 Information representation

byte the place values are as shown in Figure 1.02. sequence with a group of four binary digits.
-128 64 32 16 8 4 2 u Example: Represent the denary integer 859 in BCD.
8 5 9
Figure 1.02 Two’s complement place values 1000 0101 1001
So, 859 denary is 100001011001 as a BCD
Example: representation.

Convert the following denary numbers to an eight-bit Early computers stored date and time values in
two’s complement binary number. the BIOS of the operating system using BCD
representation. Some later games consoles including
1 56 = 32 + 16 + 8 Atari and Sony PlayStation did likewise. However in
2010, the PlayStation software interpreted the inal
-128 64 32 16 8 4 2 u
two digits of the date ‘10’ (stored in BCD) as the
0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 hexadecimal number 16. The resulting date of 2016
made the console inoperable!
2 -125 = -128 + 3 = -128 + (2 + 1)
-128 64 32 16 8 4 2 u
1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1.02 Images
3 -17 = -128 + 111 = -128 + (64 + 32 + 8 + 4 + 2 + 1) Bitmapped image
-128 64 32 16 8 4 2 u A bitmap graphic is a rectangular grid built up from a
1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 number of pixels. A pixel is the smallest addressable
picture element which can be represented. The term
bitmap comes from the concept that the bit patterns
which make up the ile are ‘mapped’ to an area in the
Note the method for a negative number. If main memory. Each pixel will be a particular colour. Each
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its negative, we must have the ‘1 lot of -128’ pixel’s colour will be represented as a binary pattern. The
– we then need to work out what positive contents of the bitmap ile will be this sequence of binary
number to add to it. colour codes.
TERMS

Representing characters
pixel: the smallest addressable picture
All data – including characters – must be represented in element which can be represented.
main memory, saved in the backing store and processed
by a program as a number value. A coding system such as
ASCII or Unicode will be used.
There are several types of encoding and ile formats for
bitmap images:
LOOK FORWARD ››
• Monochrome: black and white pixels only
ASCII and Unicode are discussed in Chapter 10, • 16 colour: 16 available colours for the pixels
section 10.01.
• 256 colour: 256 possible colours
• 24-bit colour (or true colour) where millions of
Binary-Coded Decimal (BCD) different colours are possible.

Binary-coded decimal is a binary representation which can

be used for a positive denary integer.

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The encoding for each type can be worked out as shown The clarity with which a bitmap image is viewed on a
Chapter 1 Information representation

in Table 1.03. monitor screen will depend on two factors:

Bitmap Pixel • resolution of the image: the number of pixels per

encoding representation Explanation centimetre. A small image size made up from a large
number of pixels will produce a sharper display.
Monochrome 1 bit Only two colours
needed (Black and • screen resolution: the number of pixels which can be
white). One byte can viewed horizontally and vertically on the screen. A typical
store eight pixels. PC screen resolution is 1680 pixels × 1080 pixels. This
16 colour 4 bits Each byte can store is a key factor to consider when purchasing a monitor –
two pixels. what is the highest possible screen resolution?
256 colour 8 bits (1 byte) Each byte stores one
pixel. Vector graphics
24-bit colour 24 bits (3 bytes) The number of
different colours A vector graphic is made up from a number of drawing
possible is 224 objects. A vector graphic program such as Microsoft Visio
(16, 777, 216). or Corel Draw comes with a vast number of different
objects organised into groups or ‘shape libraries’.
Table 1.03 Encodings for bitmap images
Objects are organised into groups of shapes – the
creator has selected a straight line from the ‘Connectors’
These calculations are an application of group and an LCD monitor from the ‘Computer’ group.
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the study of number systems in Chapter 1,

Objects have properties. These properties determine the
section 1.01.
size and appearance of each object. If an object is re-sized
its properties are simply recalculated.
In addition to the pixel data, the bitmap ile will have other An example could be a network topology diagram where
data stored in a ile header. The header data will give the a library of networking shapes exists containing objects for
size of the bitmap (width and height measured in pixels) a computer, ile server, printer, etc. The user could quickly
and the type of bitmap (encoding) construct a network topology diagram.
Bitmaps have the drawback that they have a large ile size. If The advantage of vector graphics is that changing the size
an attempt is made to over-enlarge the bitmap with -editing of any object will not affect the quantity of the drawing’s
software the individual pixels may become visible. This is appearance. That is, the objects are scalable.
called the staircase effect. Figure 1.03 shows an image of
a mouse on the left and the same image after it has been
enlarged – the individual pixels can clearly be seen. Applications of bitmapped and vector
graphics
Bitmapped graphics are used to:
• capture scanned images from a paper document.
• scan a photograph.
Vector graphics are used for:
• general line-drawing diagrams
• diagrams for specialist applications, such as lowcharting,
object-oriented class diagrams, network topologies and
any application where there is a specialist shapes library
available.
A diagram using vector graphics software could be
intended for inclusion in a word processor document.
When completed it must be saved in one of the
Figure 1.03 A bitmap and its enlarged version universally recognised ile formats.

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1.03 Sound The sound will be sampled at a set time interval and these

Chapter 1 Information representation

sample values form the binary values which form the
Sound is a key requirement for most software. Sound will sound ile. The issues which affect the sound quality and
be used for: the ile size are:
• sounding context-sensitive warning messages to the • How many bits are used to encode each sampled value
user (the sampling resolution)
• the playback of music iles, video and bit-streamed • How often the samples are taken, that is, how many
media content values per second (the sampling rate)
• specialist applications, such as the reading of a text The graph in Figure 1.04 illustrates the sampling rate.
document to a visual impaired user. Samples are being taken every one millisecond; that is,
1000 samples will be taken every second.
A sound signal is an analogue signal. To be saved as data on
the computer, the sound signal must be converted from an This example used only eight bits to store each sample.
analogue to a digital signal. This will be done by some form Figure 1.05 shows the sampled data values stored in main
of analogue-to-digital converter (ADC). memory from address 300 onwards.

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Milliseconds

Figure 1.04 A graph of sound samples

300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309
8 20 35 44 38 38 48 61 69 75

310 311 312 313 314

75 57 45 36 29

Figure 1.05 Samples stored in memory

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It should be apparent from Figure 1.05 that: Progressive encoding

Chapter 1 Information representation

• If samples are taken more frequently, the quality of the A system which stores the data for an entire frame and
sound wave will increase. displays all the frame data at the same time is called
‘progressive encoding’. This means the frame rate will be
• If a larger number of bits is used to encode each the number of pictures displayed per second. Traditional
sample, the sound resolution will increase. ilm uses progressive encoding.
Sound editing software is used for the recording of:
• Spoken word using a microphone Interlaced encoding
• The ‘digitising’ of an analogue sound source. An The problem is that some devices, such as a television,
example could be the connection of a record turntable are not designed to display all the frame data at the
to the computer. The sound from a vinyl record is then same time. The data from a single frame is encoded
recorded using the sound recording software as two separate ields; one containing the data for the
even numbered rows and the second frame has the
Editing features of the software would include: data for the odd numbered rows. The term interlaced
• Cutting and pasting of sections of the recording comes from the concept that the image is rendered
by switching between the even ield and the odd ield.
• Filtering out certain sounds. For example the ‘clicks’ on
It follows that the rate of picture display is twice the
a scratched vinyl record
frame rate.
• Recording as a single (mono) channel or two channels
With increasing demand for the display of video content
(stereo)
through DVD players, set-top boxes and other home
• Normalising the recording level electronic devices there is still a need for interlaced
• Export of the sound recording to a variety of ile encoded video format iles.
formats. For example MP3. The picture frames that make up interlaced ields have a
correct order relative to each other:
• The spatial order shows which should be the odd or
1.04 Video even ield.
Video is in widespread use on computers for recreational • The temporal order refers to a ield or frame and
and educational use: which ield represents an earlier moment in time.
• YouTube is one of the most popular websites where If either one or both of these orders is incorrect the result
users can post their own video content. of the playback will appear as jerky motion or blurred
edges to content.
• Videos are an excellent medium for an explanation of
the working of a piece of equipment or to provide a
learning tutorial.
1.05 Compression techniques
A video is a sequence of still photographic images which
are displayed in sequence. The frequency with which they Both sound and video iles tend to have large ile size.
are displayed gives the appearance of continuous motion, Techniques used which encode the data in a way which
and what is contained on individual frames is not apparent. results in less bytes for the ile are highly desirable.
The frequency with which the frames are displayed is Compression is the technique of reducing the size of a ile
called the frame rate. A continuous effect to the human without a signiicant loss in the later quality in the use of
eye is achieved with a frame rate of 25 frames per the ile.
second or higher.

Image compression techniques

TERMS

Run-length encoding (RLE)

Frame rate: the frequency with which video
frames are displayed Consider a bitmapped ile of a photograph where over
half of the pixels are the same pixel value, representing the
blue sky. An alternative to saving (say) the 300 consecutive
pixel values on a row could be to save a single copy of

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the pixel value followed by the number of occurrences of background. This will contain ‘runs’ when horizontal or

Chapter 1 Information representation

the value (300). This way we have reduced the number of vertical straight line are drawn.
pixels used to store this portion of the graphic from 300
Consider a 256-colour image that is 30 x 4 pixels as
to a very small number.
shown in Figure 1.06. The image has four different colours,
This technique would be appropriate for a monochrome coded as w, b, r and g.
image consisting of a black line drawing on a white

w w w w w w w w w b b w w b b b b g g g g w w w w w w w w w
w w w w g g g g g b b b b b r r r r r r r r w w w w w w w w
w w w w w w w w w w w w w w r r r r r r r r w w w w w w w w
w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w

Figure 1.06 Representation of a 30 × 4 image

The irst row of pixels could be encoded: • An image which has a large background could encode
9w2b2w4b4g9w. the background pixels with a lower resolution.
Assuming each ‘run number’ is stored as a single byte, the • Colours such as blue, to which the human eye is less
irst line will be stored using 14 bytes (compared to the sensitive, could be encoded at a lower resolution.
original 30). This is a very effective compression.
The popular .jpeg ile format is lossy.

Progress check 1.02 Video compression techniques

Calculate the encoded RLE for rows 2, 3, and 4 of
Figure 1.06. Since a video is made up of a number of frames, we are
interested in applying various compression techniques to a
video frame or a frame sequence.
Lossless encoding
We now have two alternatives for encoding a bitmapped
Spatial redundancy
image:
This is the similar to the concern over ‘redundancy’ in a
• Save the colour code for every pixel. bitmap ile. Is there a sequence of the same pixels within
• Use run-length encoding. a single frame which could be encoded or effectively
compressed?
Both of these techniques mean that the original bitmap
can be re-created when the data is read from the bitmap
image ile and displayed on the output device. Temporal redundancy
For bitmap iles several of the universal ile formats are Is there a sequence of similar pixels in the same
lossless. These include .bmp and the Portable Network position in consecutive frames? In which case, we do
Graphics (.png) format, which was intended as a not need to repeat them in each frame. It will depend
replacement for the older .gif format. entirely on the content. A room full of people disco-
dancing will not compress as well as a panoramic view
of a beauty spot.
Lossy encoding
Interframe coding addresses the issue of temporal
Using a ‘lossy’ technique for encoding bitmap data has the redundancy. The encoding method is based on the idea
objective of compressing the ile size. of key frames, which store data for all the picture, and
Lossy techniques are based on two concepts which intermediary frames which store only the differences from
exploit the limitations of the human eye: the next intermediary frame or key frame.

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File formats • MP4 (standard container for MPEG-4 multimedia)

Chapter 1 Information representation

• Matroska (not standard for any codec or system, but it

Over the years standards in the computing industry have is an open standard).
emerged for image iles (we have already mentioned .BMP.,
.PNG, .GIF and .JPEG) and sound data. Popular sound The differences between container formats arise from
formats include .WAV, .MPEG and .MP3. issues such as:

Video – which is a combination of moving pictures and • popularity: is the container format widely supported?
sound – requires its own industry standards. The detail This is the reason that the AVI format is still the most
about encoding methods used for this is outside the popular format.
scope of our syllabus. The key issue is that there is correct • overheads: This refers to the difference in ile size
synchronisation between the picture display and the between two iles with the same content in a different
accompanying sound commentary. container. For a two-hour ilm, an AVI ile may be up to
The current popular multimedia container formats include: 10 MB larger than a ile in Matroska format.

• AVI (standard Microsoft Windows container) • support for advanced codec functionality: Older
formats, such as AVI, do not support new codec
• MOV (standard QuickTime container) features, such as streaming media.

Summary Vector graphics are constructed using drawing

objects selected from shape libraries provided by
Numbers can be written using a binary, denary or
the software. Each object has a set of properties
hexadecimal base.
which are stored as part of the vector ile.
Two’s complement is a representation which
Sound is encoded as samples taken from the
allows both positive and negative integers to be
analogue source with a set sampling rate. The
represented.
number of bits used to encode each sample (the
Binary-coded decimal (BCD) is a coding system sampling resolution) determines the sound quality.
used for positive integers.
Video is made up of a sequence of image
Images can be encoded as a bitmap, made up of frames with an accompanying sound track. The
a rectangular grid of pixels. The ile header will encoding can be interlaced or progressive. Various
contain data about the image: its height, width multimedia formats are used commercially. These
and the type of bitmap. Bitmap resolutions are formats may uses compression techniques to
monochrome, 16 colour, 256 colour and true address spatial and temporal redundancy.
colour. From the resolution and the dimensions,
Compression techniques use either ‘lossy’ or ‘lossless’.
the ile size can be calculated.
One lossless technique is run-length encoding (RLE).

10

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Exam-style questions

Chapter 1 Information representation

1 Binary representation is used for many different data values.
Consider the binary pattern 1010 0110
What is its value if it represents:
a an 8-bit two’s complement integer? [1]
b an 8-bit sign and magnitude integer? [1]
c a hexadecimal number? [1]
Cambridge International AS and A Level Computing 9691 Paper 33, Q2 a Nov 2012
2 a i Convert the hexadecimal number 7A to denary. [1]
ii Convert the binary number 0101 1100 to hexadecimal. [1]
iii Why do computer scientists often write binary numbers in hexadecimal? [1]
b The diagram shows a program loaded into main memory starting at memory address 7A Hex.
Main memory
(contents shown in
Address Hex.)
7A 2150
7B A351
7C A552
7D FFFF

90 003C

How many bits are used for each main memory location? [1]
Cambridge International AS and A Level 9691 Paper 31, Q3 b & c (i) Nov 2013

11

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