CHAPTER -THREE

BASICS OF INFORMATION,
DATA,
DATA PROCESSING AND DATA REPRESENTATION
 Data vs. information
 Data can be defined as any type of representation of an object
or an event.
 Representation could be in the form of, number, text
symbols, and voice, static or dynamic image and so on.
 Information can be defined as a processed or summarized
data for a particular analysis or decision making.
 Digital computers store data using two state components.
With two such states, we can represent exactly two different
values.
 These two values correspond to the two digits used by the
binary number system or base 2 that requires just two
symbols, _ 0_ 1, but the pattern remains the same as for
decimal.
 The digits are termed binary digits. bits.
 Data Processing
o Data processing is the process of converting data into
information
o We have three steps in data processing
Input Processing Output
o Input refers to anything that is given to a computer for
processing.
o It may take various forms such as numbers for calculation, text
to be printed, sound etc.
o The quality of input data collected is determinate factor for the
quality of output.
o In order to get quality outputs we must have quality data for
input.
o If the input data is wrong the result we get or output data is
wrong (GIGO Rule /GarbageIn-GarbageOut)
 cont.…
 Processing is the process of data transformation in to
useful information.
 During the operation useful actions like arithmetic
operation, sorting, classifying and summarization
may made on the row data.
 The computer has to be told what to do with the
input.
 Output refers generating the processed data
( information) to the user using different devices
 Additional data processing operations:
Dissemination is dispatching the information to the
appropriate user through communication medias.
Storing is accumulating the processed data for later
use or processing
Extended data processing cycle
Data processing
Addition Disseminating
Subtraction
Division
Input multiplication
Row data Out put
sorting
Processed data (information
expertise knowledge
Classification etc...

Storing

Storing Storing
For later processing For later use
 Source of Information

 Information sources generally categorized in to two

broad categories.
 These are
1. Documentary information sources: those
information sources which we normally obtain them
either in paper printed format or electronically
recorded format.
 Documentary information sources again categorized in
to three groups.
 Primary documentary sources: - they are original
material.
 They are from the time period involved and have not
been filtered through interpretation.
 Cont.…

 Examples of primary information sources are

 Letters
 Diaries
 Interviews(legal proceedings, personal, telephone,
e-mail)
 Original document
 Proceedings(meeting, Conference, and Symposia)
 Survey research
 Works of Literature
 Cont.…

 Secondary documentary sources: Secondary documentary

source of information are those sources, which are either
compiled form or referred to the primary source of
information.
 In order to serve a particular purpose, the original
information in the primary sources is modified, selected
and/or reorganized and can make secondary sources of
information.
 Examples of secondary information sources are
 Reference Books
 Scholarly periodicals
 Text books
 Commentaries
 Monographs
 Cont.…

 Tertiary documentary sources: consists of information

which is a distillation on collection of primary and
secondary sources.
 Almanac (Directory, calendar, manual)
 Encyclopedias
 Fact books
 Indexes (used to locate primary and secondary
information sources)
 Non-Documentary Sources
 Non-documentary sources are those sources, which
are not intentionally organized and documented to
serve a wide range of actual and potential users.
 These sources provide information that the primary
and secondary sources do not.
 Non-documentary sources of information can be
generally categorized into two:
Formal and
Informal.
 Cont.…

 Formal non-documentary sources include:

professional societies, industries, research organizations,
universities, government departments, etc.
 the user formally consults the formal non-documentary
sources to get the required information.
 Informal non-documentary sources includes:
conversation with colleagues
visitors
attendance to professional meetings
conversation with friends etc
Data Representation in a computer
 Data Representation is methods used to represent
information stored in a computer.
 Computer is an electronic device and it works using
electrical signals.
 Electrical signals can represent only two states: on and
off, so any information that has to be processed by a
digital computer has to be converted in to a format of
these two states.
 These two states correspond to the two digits 0 and
1used by the binary number system.
1 bit = one on or off position
1 byte = 8 bits
 Cont.…

 Computers store many different types of information such

as numbers, text, graphics of several varieties (still
image, video, animation), and sound.
 All types of information are stored in a computer in the
same simple format: 0's and 1's.
 How can 0's and 1's represent things as diverse as your
photograph, your favorite song, a recent movie, and
your letter?
 It all depends on how we interpret the information.
 Computers use numeric codes based on the binary
number system to represent all the information they store.
 Computers use a variety of different codes.
 Some are used for numbers, others for text, and still
others for sound and graphics.
Units of Data Representation
 The entire circuitry of the computer is designed on the basis of
binary system.
 The Binary number system is a group of zeros and ones.
 It is obvious that computer’s net intelligence is absolutely zero i.e.
computer is not capable of understanding anything except zeros
and ones.
 In computer every instruction is interpreted and executed in the
form of binary system.
 From the readability point of view it is very difficult to understand
the string of bits. It is also very difficult to write and understand
the instruction or program written in binary form.
 Therefore, the programs are generally written in high-level
language or Assembly language.
 Later on these programs are converted into machine language
with the help of appropriate translators such as Compiler,
Assembler or Interpreter.
 Cont.…

When data is stored, processed, or communicated within

the computer system, it is “packed” in units.
Arranged from the smallest to the largest, the units are
called bits, bytes, & words.
Bits: is abbreviated for binary digit, the smallest unit of
information that can be stored and manipulated by a
computer.
A bit is represented by the numbers 1, & 0, which
correspond to the states on & off, true & false, or yes &
no.
Group of continuous 4 bits is termed as Nibble.
Bytes: is the collection of 8 bit.
Is the basic unit of information in a computer’s memory.
 Cont.…
 1 bit has 2 states, there are 8 bits in a byte.
The possible combination is 256(28).
These combination can provides enough possible patterns
to represent the entire alphabet(A-Z/a-z), numeric digits(0,1,2,
…,9), special characters(!, ?, *, …)
Bytes are calculated by raising the number 2 to various
power.
Words
Bytes are combined into groups of 1 to 8 bytes called
words.
Words refer to the number of bits that a computer
process at once.
Typically word lengths are 8 bits, 16 bits, 32 bits & 64 bits.
 Cont.…
 Frequently capacity of memory is represented in terms
of K(Kilo) , which is equivalent to 1024 words of 8 bits
each ( 210 bytes).

 1 KILO = 1024 bytes (approx. 103 bytes)

These are all the
 1 MEGA = 103 K B approximate
 1 GIGA = 103 M B values
 1 TERA = 103 G B B stands for Byte
 1 PETA = 103 TERA B
 Why Binary representation is used in computers?
 ‘Why do we go for binary numbers instead of decimal
numbers?’ The reasons are as follows:
The 1st reason is that the electronic & electrical
components, by their very nature, operate in a binary
mode.
Information is handled in the computer by
electronic/electrical components such as transistors,
semiconductors, wires, etc. all of which can only indicate
2 states or conditions – on(1) or off(0).
Transistors are either conducting (1) or non conducting
(0); a voltage is present (1) or absent (0) in wire.

8/13/21 18
 Cont.…
The binary number system, which has only two digits
(0&1), is most suitable for expressing the two possible
states.
The second reason is that the computer circuits only
have to handle two binary digits rather than ten decimal
digits.
This greatly simplifies the internal circuit design of
computers, resulting in less expensive & more reliable
circuits.
Finally, the binary system is used because everything that
can be done in decimal number system (addition,
subtraction, division & multiplication) can also be done
in binary number system.
 Numbering system
The technique to represent and work with numbers is
called number system.
Every computer stores numbers, letters, & other special
characters in a coded form.
Before going to the details of these codes, it is essential to
have a basic understanding of the number system.
 So the goal of this topic is to familiarize you with the
basic fundamentals of number system.

8/13/21 20
POSITIONAL VERSUS NON POSITIONAL NUMBER
SYSTEM
 In Non positional number system Each symbol
represents the same value regardless of its position in a
number and to find the value of a number one has to
count the number of the symbols present in the number,
we have symbols such as I for 1, II for 2, III for 3 and
etc.
 Positional Number System
 In positional number system symbols represent different
values depending upon the position they occupy in a
number.
 Cont.…

The value of each digit in a number is determined by

three considerations • Digit itself • Position of the digit
in number • Base of number system (i.e. base means
total number of digits in the number system)
Types of number system:
There are various types of number system which as
follows:
 Decimal Number System
 Binary Number System
 Octal Number System
 Hexadecimal Number System
22
I. The Decimal Number System

 The number system that we use in our day-to-day life is

called the Decimal number system.
 Uses number 10 as its base or radix.
 Base is defined as the total number of digits available in
the number system
 Has 10 symbol or digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,9 )
 The largest single digit is 9(one less than the base)
 Uses positional notation(units, tens, hundreds,
thousands, etc.) for numbers greater than numbers 9

8/13/21 23
 Cont.…

For example, the decimal number 4 8 5 6 is equal to:

(4 * 103) + (8*102) + (5 * 101) + (6 * 100)

Thousands Hundreds Tens Ones

­ The weight of the nth digit of the number from the left of the
decimal point is equal to:
nth digit * 10n-1
­ The weight of the nth digit of the number from the right of the
decimal point is equal to:
nth digit * 10-n
8/13/21 24
 II. Binary number System
The base or radix is 2
Has two symbols(0&1)
The largest single digit is 1(one less than the base)
Each position in binary number represents a power of the
base (2).
The right most position is the units (20) position, the
second is the 2`s(21) position, & proceeding in this way we
have 4`s(22) position, 8`s(23) position, 16`s (24) position, &
so on.

8/13/21 25
 Cont.…

Example: Binary number 10101 (written as 101012)

= (1*24) + (0*23) + (1*22) + (0*21) + (1*20)
= 16 + 0 + 4 + 0 + 1
= 21
III. Octal Number System
The base is 8
There are only 8 digits: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7
The largest single digit is 7
Each position on octal number represents a power of the
base(8).

8/13/21 26
 IV. Hexadecimal Number System
The base is 16
Has 16 single-character digits: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E,F(The
letters A to F represent numbers 10 to 15)
Each position in the hexadecimal system represents a power of the
base(16).

8/13/21 27
 Comparative Representation of Number Systems

Hexa decimal
Decimal System Binary System Octal System
System
0 0 0 0
1 1 1 1
2 10 2 2
3 11 3 3
4 100 4 4
5 101 5 5
6 110 6 6
7 111 7 7
8 1000 10 8
9 1001 11 9
10 1010 12 A
11 1011 13 B
12 1100 14 C
13 1101 15 D
14 1110 16 E
15 1111 17 F
: : : :
Operation on binary number system is also possible.
Binary Decimal
0 0
1 1
10 2
11 3
100 4
101 5
110 6
111 7
1000 8
1001 9 etc.
Number System Equivalence
Converting Decimal-Binary
oDivide by 2 the number and its quotient, until the quotient
becomes 0.
oConcatenate the remainder from the last one to the 1st
E.g. 1 Convert (1450)10 to ( )2
Given Quotient Reminder
1450/2 725 0
725/2 362 1
362/2 181 0
181/2 90 1
90/2 45 0
45/2 22 1
22/2 11 0
11/2 5 1
5/2 2 1
2/2 1 0
1/2 0 1
 Converting Binary-Decimal

Write the number in expanded notation

e.g. 1) 10101 = 1*24 + 0*23 + 1*22 + 0*21 + 1*20
=16 + 0 + 4 + 0 + 1 = 21
2) convert (1100010)2 to ( ) 10
= 1*26+ 1*25 + 0*24 + 0*23 + 0*22 + 1*21 +0*20
= 64 + 32 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 2 + 0 = 98
Converting to Decimal from another Base

(a) Integer Part Conversion

Step 1: Determine the positional value of each digit.
Step 2: Multiply the positional value by the digits in the
corresponding columns.
Step 3: Sum the products obtained in step 2. The total is
the equivalent value in decimal.
Note : A binary number having all 1s and without fractional part can be
converted into decimal number system by the following direct
conversion formula : 2n-1, where n is the total number of bits in the
binary number.
Example
Convert Binary 11 into its decimal equivalent: (11)2= (?)10
Here n = 2 Þ 2n -1 = 22-1 = (3)10
 
 Cont.…
(b) Decimal Part Conversion
For converting a fraction of binary system into decimal
the following steps should be followed:
Step 1: Multiply each digit of binary from left to right by
base–1, base–2, base–3 and base–4....
respectively.
Step 2: Simplify the arithmetic expression and add them
together to find the required fraction of
decimal system.
Step 3: Now by combining both the converted parts we
can find the decimal equivalent of the
binary number.
Example 2 Convert binary (11101101.10101)2 to decimal form.
Solution
Integer part – 11101101
Fractional part – 10101
Conversion of integer part:
1×27 + 1×26 + 1×25 + 0×24 + 1×23 + 1×22 +
0×21 + 1×20
 1×128 + 1×64 + 1×32 + 0×16 + 1×8 + 1×4 + 0×2
+ 1×1
 128 + 64 + 32 + 0 + 8 + 4 + 0 + 1
 (237)10
Conversion of fractional part:
Starting from left to right each bit is multiplied by
2–1, 2–2, 2–3, 2–4...... we find
1 0 1 0 1

1×2–1 + 0×2–2 + 1×2–3 + 0×2–4 + 1×2–5

 .50 + 0 + .125 + 0 + .03125 = (.65625)10
By combining both the resultant values we get the final decimal equivalent value
(237.65625)10
 Binary –Octal Combination
 Group each octal digit into 3 binary digit
 starting from the right to left at the binary point
and convert each of these to its octal equivalent.
 Zeros are added on the left, if necessary, to form a
complete triplet.
 Conversely, an octal number can be converted to binary
simply by writing the binary triplet for the octal digits.
E.g.1 (10111011) 2 to ( ) 8
010 111 011
2 7 3 Answer = (273)8
 Converting Octal-Binary

e.g. 1) convert (240)8 to ( )2

2 = 010
4 = 100
0 = 000
(240)8 = (010100000)2 = (10100000)2
2) Convert (6314)8 to ( )2
6 = 110
3 = 011
1 = 001
4 = 100
(6314)8 = (110011001100)2
Binary to Hexadecimal
•Steps
•Step 1 - Divide the binary digits into groups of four (starting from the right).
•Step 2 - Convert each group of four binary digits to one hexadecimal symbol.

Example Binary Number: 101012

Calculating hexadecimal Equivalent:

Binary Number: 101012 = Hexadecimal Number: 1516

Step Binary Number Hexadecimal Number

Step 1 101012 0001 0101

Step 2 101012 110 510
Step 3 101012 1516

Binary Number: 101012 = Hexadecimal Number: 1516

Hexadecimal to Binary
Steps
•Steps 1 - Convert each hexadecimal digit to a 4-digit binary number
(the hexadecimal digits may be treated as decimal for this conversion).
•Step 2 - Combine all the resulting binary groups (of 4 digits each) into a
single binary number.

Example
Hexadecimal Number: 15(16) Calculating Binary Equivalent:

Step Hexadecimal Number Binary Number

Step 1 1516 110 510
Step 2 1516 00012 01012
Step 3 1516 000101012

Hexadecimal Number: 15(16) = Binary Number: 101012

How to Represent Negative Numbers on Computers?

Using,
1.Sign And Magnitude Method
2.One’s Complement Method
3.Two’s Complement Method
Sign and Magnitude Method
•Left most bit of the binary number is used to represent whether the
number is positive (+) or negative (-).
•Left most is the Most Significant Bit (MSB) and is know as sign bit
in this method.
•If the sign bit is 1 the number is negative and if it is 0 the number is
positive.
•Sign bit is the MSB, with magnitude being a binary number using
the remaining bits. 0 101
Eg: +5 =
-5 = 1 101
 Cont.….

One’s Complement Method

•All the 1 bits is changed to 0 and all the 0 bit is changed to 1 to get the
complement of a number.
•One’s Complement of the number is treated as the negative of that number.
0 101
Eg: +5 =

-5 = 1 010

Two’s Complement Method

•Two’s complement of a number is one’s complement of a number+ 1.
•Two’s complement of a number is treated as the negative representation of the
number.
0 101
Eg: +5 =
1 011
-5 =
2’s complement of 5 = 1’s complement of 5 +1 = 1010 +1 = 1011
 Binary Addition
 Is performed in the same manner as in decimal arithmetic.
 Since 1 is the largest digit in the binary number system, any sum
greater than 1 requires a digit to be carried over.
0 +0 0
0+1 1
1+0 1
1+1 0 plus a carry of 1
 Binary Subtraction
Binary Subtraction – is applied to subtraction of numbers in other
number systems.
1. Determine if it is necessary to borrow.
2. If the subtrahend (the lower digit) is larger than the minuend (the upper
digit), it is necessary to borrow form the column to the left.
3. It is important to note here that the value borrowed depends upon the base
of the number system.
4. Simply to subtract lower value from the upper value.
0–0 0
1–0 1
1–1 0
Example: 0–1 1 with a borrow from
 Subtract 011102 from 101012 the next column
 Answer - 001112
Binary Multiplication – also follows the same general rules as multiplication in
decimal number system.
0X0 0
0X1 0
1X0 0
1X1 1

Binary Division – it is similar to decimal division. The rules for binary division
are:
1. Start from the left of the dividend
2. Perform a series of subtractions, in which the divisor is subtracted form the
dividend.
3. If subtraction is possible, put a 1 in the quotient and subtract the divisor form
the corresponding digits of dividend.
4. If subtraction is not possible (divisor greater than remainder), record a 0 in
the quotient.
5. Bring down the next digit to add to the remainder digits. Proceed as before in
a manner similar to long division.
0÷1 0
1÷ 1 1
 Coding Methods
 A means to convert characters into binary strings
(sequence of 0’s and/or 1’s)
 A way of computer store and process data
 There are various kind:
 BCD (Binary Coded Decimal)
 EBCDIC (Extended BCD Interchange Code)
 ASCII (American Standard Code for
Information Interchange).
BCD (Binary Coded Decimal)

 BCD is one of the early memory codes.

 In BCD each digit of a decimal number is converted into its binary
equivalent rather than converting the entire decimal value into
binary form.
 And each decimal digit uses 4 bits for this conversion.
Eg: 4210 is not equal to 1010102 in BCD
4210 is equal to 0100 00102 in BCD (Here 410 = 0100 and 210 = 0010)
910 = 1001
1 = 0001 in BCDin
10
BCD
1010 = 0001 0000 in
BCD BCD Coding Scheme for All Numeric and
Alphabetic Characters
EBCDIC (Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code)

 Using 6 bits BCD can represent only 64 characters.

 To represent lowercase alphabets (26), uppercase alphabets (26), decimal
numbers (10) and special characters (28+) BCD coding is not sufficient and was
extended from 6 bit to 8 bit.
 And the new coding scheme is EBCDIC.
 EBCDIC using 8 bits can represent 28 (=256) different characters.
 EBCDIC 8 bit coding can be divided into 2 groups of 4 bits.
 Each group can be represented using 1 hexa decimal digit.
 This scheme is developed by IBM and hence mostly used in IBM model
computer and mainframe.
 This code can represent the following type of coded information.
(i) Printable
(ii) non printable
(iii) lowercase letters - a, b, c ...... Z
(iii) upper case letters eg. A, B, C ...... Z
(iv) numeric values 0, 1, 2 ........9
(v) some special characters such as + , –, $ etc.
 Cont.…
ASCII:- The most widely used coding scheme.
 It is the basis for the internal coding of most computer
systems.
 Uses eight digits to represent every character.
 A character is either a letter or a digit or a special
symbol (+,- &,$, etc). can represent 28 =256 d/t
characters
 With this all letters, number digits and other special
characters can be represented
Example: binary representation using ASCII system
 Coding Methods-ASCII Code
The following table illustrates some characters & their
corresponding binary representation using ASCII system