2/17/23, 10:18 AM CAIE AS LEVEL Computer Science 9618 Theory Revision Notes - ZNotes

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Computer
Science
(9618)
CAIE
Information More
Resou
AS Level
Representation Discus
Theory
on

Data Representation Discor

Information The basis of any number system consists of:

Representation Downl
A base: the number of digits that a
Communication PDF
number system can use to represent
Hardware
numbers Repor
Processor
Fundamentals Place value for each digit: digits in an Err

System certain positions have a specific value

Software Notes
Denary - Base 10 integer digits
Inform
Database and Binary Systems - Base 2
Data Modelling
Possible bits (binary digits): 0 and 1
Ethics and Help u
Ownership All data and characters are represented updat

Security, in binary
privacy and
data integrity
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

E.g. 65 in binary is 0100001

Denary vs. Binary prefixes:

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2/17/23, 10:18 AM CAIE AS LEVEL Computer Science 9618 Theory Revision Notes - ZNotes

factor factor
Subjects Support
DenaryPrefix
us About us BinaryPrefix
value value

Computer
kilo- (k) ×10^3 kibi- (Ki) ×2^10
Science
(9618) mega- (M) ×10^6 mebi- (Mi) ×2^20
CAIE
AS Level giga- (G) ×10^9 gebi- (Gi) ×2^30

tera- (T) ×10^12 tebi- (Ti) ×2^40

Binary Coded Decimal (BCD)

Information
Representation Binary representation where each

Communication positive denary digit is represented by a

Hardware sequence of 4 bits (nibble)

Processor
Only certain digits are converted to
Fundamentals BCD, because particular digits represent
System a digit greater than 9.
Software
Ex. 429 in BCD:
Database and
Data Modelling Convert each digit to their binary

Ethics and equivalents

Ownership
4 = 0100 | 2 = 0010 |9 = 1001
Security, Concatenate the 3 nibbles (4-bit group) to
privacy and
data integrity produce BCD: 0100 0010 1001

Practical applications
A string of digits on any electronic
device displaying numbers (eg.
Calculators)
Accurately measuring decimal fractions
Electronically coding denary numbers
Two’s Complement

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2/17/23, 10:18 AM CAIE AS LEVEL Computer Science 9618 Theory Revision Notes - ZNotes

We can represent a negative number in

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binary by making the most significant
bit (MSB) a sign bit, which indicates
Computer whether the number is positive or
Science
(9618) negative.
CAIE Converting negative denary into binary
AS Level
(ex. -42)
Find the binary equivalent of the denary
number (ignoring the -ve sign) | 42 = 101010

Information Add extra 0 bits before the MSB, to format

Representation binary number to 8 bits | 00101010
Communication Convert binary number to one’s
Hardware complement (flip the bits) | 11010101
Processor Convert binary number to two’s
Fundamentals
complement (add 1) |1010101 + 1 =
System
Software 11010110

Database and Converting binary two’s complement into

Data Modelling denary (ex. 11010110)
Ethics and Flip all the bits | 00101001
Ownership
Add 1 | 00101010
Security,
privacy and Convert binary to denary and put a –ve
data integrity
sign) | -42
Maximum positive number in 8 bits: 256
Maximum negative number in 8 bits: -128
Hexadecimal Systems - Base 16
Possible digits: 0 to 9 and A to F, where
A to F represent denary digits 10 to 15
Practical applications:
Defining colours in HTML

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2/17/23, 10:18 AM CAIE AS LEVEL Computer Science 9618 Theory Revision Notes - ZNotes

Defining Media Access Control

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(MAC) addresses
Assembly languages and machine
Computer code
Science
(9618) Debugging via memory dumps
CAIE E.g. A5 in Denary = (16×10) + (1×5) = 165
AS Level
E.g. 65 in Hexadecimal = 65÷16=4
Remainder 1∴ = 41
Character Sets

Information A character set generally includes upper

Representation & lower case letters, number digits,
Communication punctuation marks and other
Hardware characters.
Processor Character sets use different binary
Fundamentals
representations for each character via
System
Software character encoding

Database and Character Encoding Standards:

Data Modelling

Ethics and Extended

Ownership ASCII Unicode
ASCII
Security,
privacy and ASCII’s Superset
data integrity
extension - for ASCII &

Only English Also extended

alphabets includes ASCII -
can be most recognized
represented European by various
languages’ global
alphabets languages

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2/17/23, 10:18 AM CAIE AS LEVEL Computer Science 9618 Theory Revision Notes - ZNotes

Extended
Subjects Support
ASCII
us About us Unicode
ASCII

Each Greater
Computer
ASCII
Science character range of
(9618) extended to
encoding characters,
CAIE 8 bits,
AS Level takes up 7 as it uses 2
hence 256
bits, hence or 4 bytes
possible
128 possible per
characters.
characters character.
Information
Representation 2 or 4 times
Communication Smaller more
Hardware storage storage
Processor space. space per
Fundamentals
character.
System
Software

Database and
Data Modelling
Advertisement
Ethics and
Ownership

Security,
privacy and Multimedia
data integrity
Bitmap Images

Data for a bitmapped image is encoded

by assigning a solid colour to each pixel,

i.e., through bit patterns.

Bit patterns are generated by

considering each row of the grid as a

series of binary colour codes which

correspond to each pixel’s colour.

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2/17/23, 10:18 AM CAIE AS LEVEL Computer Science 9618 Theory Revision Notes - ZNotes

These bit patterns are ‘mapped’ onto

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main memory

Pixels: smallest picture element whose

Computer colour can be accurately represented by
Science
(9618) binary
CAIE Bitmap image also contains the File
AS Level
Header which has the metadata

contents of the bitmap file,

including image size, number of

Information colours, etc.

Representation Image Resolution
Communication Pixel density which is measured by no.
Hardware of pixels/cm
Processor If image resolution increases, then
Fundamentals
image is sharper/more detailed
System
Software Screen Resolution

Database and Number of pixels which can be viewed

Data Modelling horizontally & vertically on the device’s
Ethics and screen
Ownership
Number of pixels = width × height
Security,
privacy and E.g. 1680 × 1080 pixels
data integrity
Colour depth: number of bits used to
represent the colour of a single pixel
An image with n bits has 2n colours per

pixel
E.g. 16-colour bitmap has 4 bits per

pixel ∵ 24 = 16
Colour depth↑: colour quality↑ but file
size↑

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2/17/23, 10:18 AM CAIE AS LEVEL Computer Science 9618 Theory Revision Notes - ZNotes

File Size = Number of Pixels × colour

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depth
Convert bits to bytes by dividing by 8 if
Computer necessary.
Science
(9618) Applications: scanned images and general
CAIE computer usage ∵ small file size and can be
AS Level
easily manipulated.
Vector Graphics
Made up of drawing objects

Information Drawing objects:  a mathematically

Representation defined construct (of shapes like
Communication rectangle, line, circle, etc.)
Hardware Drawing list: set of commands defining
Processor the vector
Fundamentals
Properties of each object are the basic
System
Software geometric data which determine the

Database and shape and appearance.

Data Modelling Data is encoded using mathematical
Ethics and formulas to generate properties in
Ownership
order to draw lines & curves to create
Security,
privacy and the image
data integrity
If object is resized, properties are

recalculated.
∴ Scalable without losing quality unlike bitmaps

Applications: company logos

Sound
Analogue data is continuous electrical

signals whereas digital data is discrete

electrical signals.

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2/17/23, 10:18 AM CAIE AS LEVEL Computer Science 9618 Theory Revision Notes - ZNotes

Sound signals are vibrations through a

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medium. Hence are analogue in nature

as there can be an infinite amount of

Computer detail for sound.
Science
(9618) Analogue signals converted (encoded)
CAIE to digital signals by sampling:
AS Level
Sound wave’s amplitude (height)

sampled at set time intervals

These samples (amplitudes) are

Information encoded as a binary number

Representation sequence
Communication This sequence provides a digital
Hardware representation of the sound wave
Processor
Fundamentals Sampling Rate
System Number of samples taken per unit time
Software
Increasing the sampling rate increases
Database and
Data Modelling accuracy of digitized sound wave

Ethics and representation but increases the file

Ownership size
Security, Sampling Resolution
privacy and
data integrity Number of bits used to encode each
sample

Increasing sampling resolution

increases accuracy of digitized sound
wave but increases the file size

Bit Rate: no. of bits for storing 1 second of

sound
Bit Rate = Sampling Rate ×
Sampling Resolution

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2/17/23, 10:18 AM CAIE AS LEVEL Computer Science 9618 Theory Revision Notes - ZNotes

File Size=Bit Rate * Length of Sound

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Computer
Science Compression
(9618)
Compression is the process of reducing file
CAIE
AS Level size without a significant loss in quality

which results in
Reducing the time needed to search for

data. 
Information
Representation Faster transfer of compressed files,

Communication
which uses less bandwidth than

uncompressed files.
Hardware
Lossless Compression
Processor
Fundamentals Type of compression that allows
System original data to perfectly reconstructed
Software
from compressed file when the file is
Database and
Data Modelling opened by utilizing some form of

Ethics and
replacement.
Ownership E.g. bitmap (.bmp), vector graphic (.svg)
Security, and .png images, text file compression,
privacy and
data integrity database records

Run-length Encoding (RLE)

Form of lossless compression
which is used for compressing text

files and bitmap images.

Reduces file size of a sequence of
elements which has adjacent,

identical elements (characters in

text file and pixels in bitmap

images).
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2/17/23, 10:18 AM CAIE AS LEVEL Computer Science 9618 Theory Revision Notes - ZNotes

Repeating sequence of elements

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encoded in two values: run count
and run value.
Computer  E.g. RLE of bitmap image:
Science
(9618) We can represent the first row as a
CAIE sequence of pixels: “W B B W W B B
AS Level
W” | W: white and B: black

After applying RLE: “W 2B 2W 2B

W”. 
Information
Representation In ‘2B’ 2 is the run count and B is

Communication the run value, which represents a

Hardware
run of two adjacent black pixels
Process is repeated for other rows.
Processor
Fundamentals Lossy Compression
System Type of compression which irreversibly
Software
eliminates unnecessary data
Database and
Data Modelling File accuracy/quality lower than that of

Ethics and lossless but file size is lower (~10% of

Ownership lossless).
Security, E.g. Sound files (.mp3), .jpeg images
privacy and
data integrity Sound files compression (.mp3) utilizes
Perceptual Coding to remove certain

parts of sound that are less

audible/discernible to human hearing.

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